Should the Warriors Continue to Rest Steph Curry?

The Warriors’ Steph Curry hurt his ankle in Game 1 and rested in Game 2. What should they do with the MVP?

It’s not often that a team can rest their MVP against a team that made it to the Western Conference Finals a year ago and still win. Then again, it’s not often that a team wins 73 regular season games. As great as Stephen Curry is, he didn’t win all of those games on his own. No one can.

In Game 1, Curry exited the game with an ankle injury that kept him out of Game 2. He was labeled as questionable prior to the game and he tried to go through his warmups, but he was visibly uncomfortable. Having a history of ankle problems was enough for Curry and Steve Kerr to pull the plug and hold him out of the second game of the series.

So the rest of the Warriors stepped up and defended their home court against James Harden and the Houston Rockets.  Klay Thompson‘s 34 points and Draymond Green‘s near triple-double helped the Warriors take a 2-0 lead in the first round. Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston dropped in 18 and 16 respectively in what was truly a team effort.

After the game, Kerr said he didn’t know what Curry’s injury was while also mentioning that it depends on how his “foot” is feeling causing widespread panic for Warriors fans. With Kerr, you never know when he’s lying to maintain an advantage and when he’s telling the truth. It’s not clear just how serious the MVP’s injury is, but his MRI results show that there’s nothing seriously hurt.

Following Game 2, there was talk that the Warriors are just as good without Curry. Many speculated that a Curry-less team would still win at least 60 games. While that’s extremely wrong, the Warriors still have some very good players across the board. Thompson and Green are All-Stars, Iguodala was the Finals MVP, and they have an All-Defense center in Andrew Bogut.

Conversely, the Houston Rockets don’t have that much talent. Harden is one of the league’s top players and Dwight Howard, despite his flaws, can still be a very good center. Outside of those two, interim head coach JB Bickerstaff doesn’t have a lot to work with. It’s nearly impossible to win giving regular minutes to Jason Terry, Josh Smith, and Michael Beasley.

So the question is: should the Warriors continue to rest Steph Curry?

It seems like that would be a reasonable course of action if there’s even a small bit of discomfort. The Warriors have shown that they can beat the Rockets without him. At worst, the Warriors drop Game 3 and then they can re-insert him back into the lineup after a few more days of rest with a 2-1 lead. If his ankle is still hurt, he needs to get it as close to 100% as possible before he steps back onto the court.

The Warriors are not title contenders without the best basketball player in the universe, but they can definitely beat Houston. Taking a risk and throwing Curry back out there before he’s ready could put an end to the Warriors’ title hopes and seriously impact the point guard’s future. Unless the series is in jeopardy and Curry’s ankle is close to healthy, there’s no reason to push him to play.

Kerr and his staff are extremely smart. They monitor players’ minutes and make sure everyone’s body is right. Forcing an injured player to play through it would be unprecedented. If anything, Curry might try to persuade them that he’s ready to go, as he did in Game 1.

The Warriors will absolutely need Curry in the second round, regardless of opponent. They wouldn’t stand a chance against Chris Paul‘s Los Angeles Clippers or Damian Lillard‘s Trailblazers. And they’d probably get swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. He needs to be ready for that. Houston, who barely snuck into the playoffs, does not pose the same threat.

The Curry-less Warriors are not a historically great team, but they’re still better than the hot mess in the Rockets’ locker room.