Healthy ankles (shoulders, knees and toes)
Following Wednesday night’s 101-87 win against Charlotte, the injury report read as follows: Zaza Pachulia (returned from a shoulder injury but left midway through game), Patrick McCaw (nose contusion; out), Draymond Green (right shoulder; out) and, of course, the hometown hero Stephen Curry (severe ankle sprain; out).
No disrespect to the other three as they are key players in the rotation but Curry’s ankles have been an ongoing issue since he entered the league in 2009. I can recall a time where some talking heads and fans, including myself, worried that his ankles would derail his career. Steph has clearly outperformed everyone’s initial expectations in a major way, but his latest setback during Monday’s game against New Orleans is a scary visit from the “Ghost of Ankle Injuries Past”.
While he is only set to be sidelined for two weeks and the team has plenty of healthy stars to play in his absence, the Dubs have to do all they can to keep the ship afloat while their captain is out. They have to get the aforementioned players healthy and make sure Durant doesn’t miss any more games with his nagging leg injuries to avoid any sort of slip a la the Clippers in LaLa Land.
It’s still early in the season and managing players is something the Warriors do as well as anybody but getting it under control now will bode well as we enter the All-Star break. Definitely something to keep an eye on.