In the aftermath of the Golden State Warriors’ NBA triumph last season, all anyone wanted to talk about was how easy they’d had it.
How the Memphis Grizzlies were only a healthy Mike Conley away from causing an upset. How the Houston Rockets were hamstrung by Dwight Howard’s dodgy back. How the Cleveland Cavaliers would have cruised home in the Finals if Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving had both been fit.
Now, it seems, the shoe is on the other foot.
Steph Curry has gone down twice with injuries in just four games of playoff basketball; a sprained ankle in Game 1 against the Rockets – which forced him to sit out Games 2 and 3 – was compounded by a sprained right knee in Game 4.
One can’t help but be reminded of Curry’s early days in the NBA, when ankle injury after ankle injury seemed to have curtailed his career before it had really begun.
An MVP award (soon to become two) and an NBA ring have shown what a great player Curry is when healthy. It’s a shame his injury bug has resurfaced during the playoffs, of all times.
His injured medial collateral ligament will be reevaluated in two weeks.
Best case scenario, that means Curry will be suiting up around May 10. However, there’s every chance that reevaluation will lead to even more time on the pine.
The Warriors should be capable of handling the Rockets in Game 5 at home – they’ve proved already this series that they have Houston’s measure even without Curry – but the conference semi-finals will prove a sterner test.
The Los Angeles Clippers are the team most likely to await Golden State in the next round. And while Houston are without a quality point guard to expose Curry’s absence, the Clippers have one of the best in Chris Paul.
Few players are capable of keeping Curry honest at both ends of the court, but Paul is one of them, both a lockdown defender and clutch scorer.
Can the Warriors cover up their MVP-sized hole for a couple of weeks? Despite the quality of the Clippers, it’s hard to see why not.
Golden State have one of the best coaches in the league – Steve Kerr – who has shown he can shuffle his deck to cater for injuries. And Curry’s absence, for all the harm it does on the offensive end, may even make the Warriors a more formidable presence on defence.
Andre Iguodala will get more time on the court, and bit-part players like Shaun Livingston and Ian Clark have stepped up nicely so far.
Kerr has shown he won’t play Curry unless he is genuinely fit and healthy. He’ll just be hoping his star point guard regains full fitness in time for the Western Conference Finals, because while the Warriors should be able to account for the Clippers with or without Curry, the San Antonio Spurs are another matter entirely.
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