Steph Curry’s Injury: Assessing the Damage

Steph Curry has a Grade 1 MCL sprain and will be re-evaluated in two weeks. What do the Warriors do now?

You could hear the collective sigh of relief floating through the cold Bay Area air when the MRI results of Stephen Curry‘s knee injury were revealed. He was a Grade 1 MCL sprain and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

While the timetable isn’t ideal, it could be a lot worse. At best, Curry will miss just two weeks, if everything progresses smoothly. But saying knee injuries are tricky would be an understatement and he’s getting re-evaluated in two weeks, not necessarily returning to action. This could be a three or four week injury.

And even if Curry comes back sooner than later, it’s not reasonable to expect him to lace them up and play like we’ve grown accustomed to. It’s important to factor in conditioning and the rust that would surely take several games to shake off. Getting back into a rhythm would be even harder against Chris Paul or Damian Lillard.

So now the Warriors face their toughest test of the season: survive without the MVP.

They lead the Houston Rockets 3-1 in the opening round of the playoffs and they should be able to close it out. Curry only played the first half in Games 1 and 4 so the rest of the team has been able to handle James Harden and co. on their own. The next round gets tricky as they’ll most likely see the Los Angeles Clippers, a team with enough firepower in their starting lineup to outscore the Warriors’ Curry-less offense.

An extremely optimistic estimate would have Curry returning for Game 4 of the second round. Judging by last year’s playoff dates, two weeks would have him in line to return and possibly salvage the season at that point. Ideally, the Portland Trailblazers would fight back and force the Clippers into a seventh game and, in an even more perfect world, defeat them. But Curry can be out until the very end of the semis or even the Conference Finals.

Head coach Steve Kerr and his staff have a lot to think about over the next few days. The rotation is up in the air. As much as I’m sure he wouldn’t like to shorten the rotation, he might have to. The Warriors’ deep bench hasn’t been the most reliable over the course of the season, losing a lot of big leads. The Curry-less Warriors probably aren’t going to be putting on an offensive clinic like they did in the third quarter of Game 4, but they can buckle down defensively and move the ball.

Klay Thompson and Draymond Green will need to be bigger than ever. For the time being, this is their team now. They are the All-Stars and the team will go as far as they will take them. For Green, this means being an even louder voice. This heartbeat needs to beat a little harder and he’s surely the right person to do it. For Thompson, his shooting is second only to his teammate. He can take over a game with his stroke, but he can also disappear just as easily like he did in Game 2.

Harrison Barnes probably won’t be saving the Warriors. His shooting has been all over the place all season long and he just looks like he’s going through the motions. His defense has kept him on the court as he matches up well with most power forwards. Kerr might not have the luxury of going small often against the Clippers. Barnes cannot guard Blake Griffin. Barnes’ role might not change much.

It’s safe to say we’re going to see a lot of Shaun Livingston, probably a little more than Kerr would like. He’s had a great postseason thus far, but a significant minutes and usage increase could really slow him down in a deep run. Ian Clark has had some really good stretches against the Rockets with some boneheaded inexperience sprinkled in. He’ll surely have a bigger role moving forward.

Marreese Speights can really make a difference for the Warriors’ shortened bench. Festus Ezeli has not matched up well with Houston’s bigs and Speights gives Golden State some much needed spacing. He’s shooting over 45 percent from beyond the arc in the opening round. He can pull the big out of the lane and open up room for the Warriors in the paint or make Houston pay for not honoring his shot.

The Warriors are probably going to struggle. If not this round, then in the next one. The Clippers and the Blazers are both better than Houston and they can give the Warriors all they can handle with Curry playing. Golden State really needs to emphasize taking care of the basketball and defensive pressure. Curry’s heroics can cover up turnovers and poor offensive execution, but without him, they need to cut them down and move the ball well. Defensively, they need to find ways to turn good defensive to quick offense because the Warriors don’t have the shooting to win a half court game. They’ll get looks, but which Green, Barnes, and Andre Iguodala will show up?

So, just like we all predicted, the Warriors title hopes rely on Mo Speights and Ian Clark.

Kerr isn’t going to risk the long-term future of his team or his point guard by rushing him back too soon. And he shouldn’t. As much of a disappointment it would be to not finish this season as champions, knee injuries can linger and really destroy a player’s career. The Warriors most likely can’t win a title without Curry. They probably won’t be able to get past the second round without him. But this team has dealt with a lot of adversity in what has been a season for the ages. Golden State needs to prepare to not play with him for a while and just tread water in the next round until the safety raft can arrive and carry them to the promised land.

In a surprising turn of events, a seventy-three win team just became an underdog and I don’t think they have a problem with it.