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.
Alex Moore
Roar Rookie
ESPN's Skip Bayless was trolled today on Twitter by Curry himself for implying similar things about the Warriors title run last year that you're writing about. I don't think luck applies much when you're a No.1 seed and then go on to win the title. You earn the easy run. Jordan wasn't lucky in '91 for knocking off the Lakers and Magic. I prefer to see this Warriors team as a "changing of the guard".
GregT
Guest
It isn't as straight forwards as "they will be fine". If they make the wcf and curry is still out or just returning, that may not be good enough to beat a team as good as the Spurs. It was interesting to see how long it took Harrison Barnes to get back to some kind of form this year after injury. Ezeli has been back for a few weeks but is still not playing near the level he did early in the season. The wcf will be the pinnacle of the basketball world and a rusty out of shape curry may not b enough to win.
Liam Clark
Roar Guru
The Warriors should be fine. Curry needs to rest up and now that the Clippers are Paul-less, they should be fine.
GregT
Guest
It was likely a second round exit for gsw until today when cp3 went down and then griffin. Without cp3 and with an ailing griffin the clips will be lucky to win a game against gsw. I doubt they will get out of the first round now. Curry is to be re-evaluated in two weeks which should be about mid semi finals. I don't think he will be ready to enter straight into a full speed playoff game. The Warriors management could gamble and leave him out until the conference finals. All very presumptive but with cp3 gone it could happen.
reegs82
Guest
Its really evened out now with CP3's injury which as unfortunate as it is really plays in to the Dubs hands and this series will most likely now go 7 games with either a Pauless Clips or a young Blazers team awaiting the dubs (Obviously if the dubs handle their business against Houston). Curry should be back game 4 with hopefully a lead of 2-1. find his rhythm whilst winning game 4 and 5 and ready to take on the Spurs or Thunder at full speed. Whoever wins the Spurs Thunder is sure to be banged up after what looks to be a potential 7 game series.