How Far Can the Warriors Go Without Steph Curry?
By Andrew Ites
Steph Curry will be out for the rest of the regular season and possibly part of the playoffs. How far can the Warriors go without him?
Steve Kerr’s latest comments suggested that the Warriors will be extremely cautious in bringing back Steph Curry from the Grade 2 MCL sprain he suffered in last Friday’s win over the Hawks as Kerr said that Steph would definitely be out for round one of the playoffs.
Curry will reportedly be re-evaluated in three weeks, which is almost exactly when the NBA playoffs are set to begin.
Assuming the Warriors’ three other All-Stars come back healthy for the postseason, does Golden State have any hope of defending their title without their two-time MVP?
The Warriors have gone 11-6 without Curry in the lineup this season, but those last three losses have come with multiple All-Stars alongside him on the bench. Golden State ripped off a run of 9-2 when Curry suffered a sprained ankle in December that kept him out nearly a month.
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The team has an offensive rating of 122.8 when Curry is on the court versus a 107.9 rating when he’s out of the game. However, their defensive rating is 3.4 points better when he’s on the bench.
The Warriors went 4-2 in the 2016 playoffs when Curry went down with multiple injuries, and that was before they acquired another MVP in Kevin Durant.
If the Jazz or the Spurs (with a healthy Kawhi) match up with a Curry-less Warriors in the first round, Golden State may have to exert a ton of energy to win the series but their level of talent is still superior to those teams and they will have the home-court advantage.
However, I definitely don’t think the Warriors would beat the top-seeded Rockets or even an extremely focused Thunder team in the second round if Curry’s MCL sprain causes him to miss those series.
Steph Curry is the most valuable player on a team stocked with talent, and the Warriors will not be able to win back-to-back titles if he has to miss more than one round in the playoffs.