Getty Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors.
Now that the All-Star break is almost over, the Golden State Warriors have a crucial stretch ahead of themselves. They’ve hovered around the .500 mark for the entirety of the season, and if they want to have a chance at making the postseason, they’ll need to come out hot.
Stephen Curry has been sidelined for a few weeks with a leg injury, and a relatively positive update from Steve Kerr revealed that he was on the court putting up shots after practice post-All-Star break. However, according to Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, the diagnosis isn’t so great.
“In the 7-10 game range and maybe a little bit more than that…,” Kawakami told Damon & Ratto of 95.7 The Game. “I wouldn’t say he’s going to play in the next five games.”
Without Curry in the lineup, the Warriors have been forced to turn to Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins as the primary scoring options. And while all three of those players are stars in their own right, none can replace what Curry brings to the table.
So far this year, the Warriors are 9-11 with Curry injured. Unfortunately for Golden State, the superstar point guard has been hit by the injury bug in a big way this year, missing nearly one-third of the team’s games. If they want to make a serious push, they need him back.
When Curry has been on the court, he’s been one of the best players in the league. In his 38 appearances, Curry is averaging 29.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 6.4 assists per game on 49.5% shooting from the floor and 42.7% shooting from behind the three-point line.
With just 24 games remaining in the season, this will be a crucial stretch for Golden State, and if Curry is missing for nearly half of it, their year could be in serious danger.
Klay Thompson Discusses Warriors Title Hopes
While things haven’t gone quite as well as the Warriors may have hoped this year, they still have a shot at making a run. And according to Thompson, they still have a chance to repeat as NBA Champions.
“The west is stacked, but at the end of the day you gotta go through who you gotta go through to win the whole thing, and whether that’s in the Finals or in the first round, there’s incredible talents,” Thompson said via the Warriors’ official Twitter account. “So, there’s really no rounds off. There’s no gimmes. And, for us, we know what it takes. We gotta hold the fort down until Steph gets back and just gotta get whole again but I know this break is gonna be very beneficial towards us, and I still love our chances of repeat and I am never gonna lose confidence in this team.”
Draymond Green Puts Warriors on Notice
Thompson may be confident in his team’s ability to win it all, but ahead of the All-Star break, Draymond Green put the Warriors on notice for their lackluster defensive play.
“I don’t think it’s a championship hangover. It’s a will to want to defend,” Green said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “You’re not hungover at .500, 60 games into the season. You’re a loser if you’re still hungover at that point, so there’s no hangover. It’s the will to defend, stop and guard your man, sink in help and trap the box, rotate. Defense is all one to two steps extra. I’ma take that extra step to get there or I’m not. That’s all will, and we don’t have that as a team.”
