Steve Kerr didn’t sound the least bit worried prior to the Warriors’ homestand yesterday. The bad news seemed to keep coming, with Steph Curry slated to miss the rest of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs due to a sprained left knee. In the immediate term, it meant he would be without any of his four All-Stars against the Jazz. Still, he stayed positive, preferring to focus on the big picture. “We’ve got enough. We’re blessed with a great roster, a lot of depth,” he noted. “There’s no reason why we can’t come out and really play well down the stretch and be ready for the playoffs.”
Needless to say, Kerr looked forward to the return of Kevin Durant and Draymond Green to the lineup; they’re expected to be in uniform and ready to go when the Warriors host the Pacers tomorrow. He also said Klay Thompson’s convalescence from a fractured right thumb was “coming along well.” Meanwhile, however, he had his hands full; he went with a starting lineup of four minutes-hungry reserves and one G-League call-up on a 10-day contract.
Needless to say, the Warriors lost for the fifth time in eight outings, and with it any chance of catching up with the Rockets for the top seed in the West. Still, Kerr preferred to look at the glass as half full. “I thought we hung in there pretty well,” he contended, never mind that he picked up his sixth technical foul of the season en route to a 19-point shellacking. “We just didn’t have enough firepower.” Indeed, and his pace-and-space formulas may well be handicapped even with the impending return of Durant, Green, and Thompson; for all their contributions, the offense flows from and around Curry.
The numbers don’t lie. Based on advanced metrics, the Warriors aren’t anywhere near as efficient or deadly without Curry. As even Durant admitted, “Steph is the system here;” simply put, his uncanny range and capacity to launch accurate shots quickly while under pressure bend defenses to the point where everybody else gets open. Take him out of the equation, and they’re still very, very good, but not close to their historically transcendent selves over the better part of the last four seasons.
Which is to say the Warriors will go only so far as Curry can take them. They’re safely ensconced in second, so their spot in the postseason is secure. That said, the road to a fourth consecutive Finals appearance is far from clear, and not just because the Rockets starring preemptive Most Valuable Player awardee James Harden are legitimate threats. Given their accomplishments, their greatest threats lie within, and only when they’re truly complete will they manage to reward Kerr’s confidence.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
