There really is no way to disguise what Stephen Curry’s injury means to the Warriors. Depending on the amount of time he’s out with a shoulder injury — one that sounds like it’ll sideline him for at least a couple of weeks — Golden State could be in real trouble in and around the back end of the Western Conference playoff race.
Even before reports from sources claimed that Curry would miss a few weeks due to shoulder disease, the Warriors were in the 14-15 season with a challenging list of competitions in the near future. They have one of the 10 toughest remaining game schedules in the league, and over the next two weeks, seven of Golden State’s next eight opponents are clubs that would currently make it into the postseason, either as play-in contenders or as a top-six -Seed. (The Warriors’ next four games — all against teams solid in the Eastern Conference postseason race — are on the road, where 2-13 Golden State is their worst-ever West.) If you stretch Curry’s absence closer to Till At the one-month mark, things soften again at the end of that stretch, as Detroit, Orlando, San Antonio, Chicago and Washington — all outside of the top 10 in both conferences — would be on the agenda should Curry have to redeem himself for that long .
Regardless of who the warriors face, there is no easy opponent without Curry. To this point in the season, Golden State is offensively better by a whopping 17.8 points per 100 possessions when Curry is on the ground; a difference that sits in the 100th percentile in the league. With Steph, the Warriors offense has an NBA-record 120.8 points per 100; Without him, the Golden State’s offense is a slog and grinds out what would equate to a league-worst 103.8 points per 100. For that reason, it’s not hard to imagine the dubs – 0-3 this season without Curry and just 24-66 (26.6% win percentage) without him in the last 3+ campaigns – making the joint stink without that their franchise player is available.
Golden State has been far worse this season without its superstar point guard running the show.
Trevor Ruszkowski/USA TODAY Sports
Steve Kerr has struggled all season to find bench units that can hold their own when Curry and the starters — who as a lineup have one of the NBA’s best net ratings — come off the floor. In some cases, some advanced pre-season metrics and statistical models screamed at the top of his lungs that the warriors had real flaws; ones that stemmed from either injury worries or doubts about Golden State’s relative inexperience on the bench. Now both have manifested, and the timing certainly isn’t good for a club that essentially stays in place year-round, despite Curry playing some of the best basketball of his career.
If there’s a good side, then there’s little doubt about who will replace Curry – star reserve Jordan Poole has started in all three games Curry hasn’t played this season – and that the team will be on the defensive has been much better and more engaged in the last 10 games. Despite this improvement in effort and execution, the Dubs still rank only 19th on the season in defensive efficiency and are in the bottom 10 in overall rebound percentage.
Offensively, there’s no solution to losing someone like Curry, who is the sun in the Golden State’s solar system. He’s essentially the team’s system, allowing everyone else easier passes and shots due to the pull Curry creates from defense. So without him, the dubs will likely have their hottest shooting hand tied behind their backs in the weeks to come. It will not surprise anyone if this track looks downright ugly at times as they are just trying to survive.