The Golden State Warriors, in embarrassing fashion, lost their home opener, and it was partially due to the poor play of two-time MVP Stephen Curry.
Coming into the season, the Golden State Warriors knew they needed Stephen Curry to return to MVP form. With Klay Thompson injured until late March and Kevin Durant leaving in free agency, the Warriors aren’t the team they once were.
They drafted three rookies and gave two of them significant time in their season opener. That’s not what the Golden State Warriors culture has been like the last few seasons. It’s been more of a prove yourself and then get minutes type of ordeal.
However, this isn’t the same team we are used to seeing. They won’t be dominant on a nightly basis. And, most of all, they’ll be heavily reliant on their unanimous leader. That said, in their first game, Curry failed them.
Curry barely managed a team-high 23 points, but it wasn’t pretty. After starting last season on fire, Curry started the 2019-2020 season 2-for-11 from deep and just 8-for-20 from the field. One positive takeaway is when he was ran off the line and kept the ball, he was 6-foot-9.
His shooting wasn’t necessarily the most depressing part of Curry’s game.
He committed eight turnovers.
That’s just unacceptable, and Steve Kerr, who talked about it postgame, knows he’s adjusting to the weigh on his shoulders.
It’s not easy to score over 30 points per game as he did during the 2015-2016 season when you don’t have Klay Thompson to free up space. Curry ran into that issue on Thursday night, but he should be better as the Warriors face the Thunder later today.
This team, aside from D’Angelo Russell, doesn’t have a single player truly capable of creating a shot that the staff would be comfortable with them taking. So, Curry must not only be the scorer but also the playmaker.
After three straight seasons with Kevin Durant on the roster, it’s no wonder Curry’s going to take his time adjusting to the limelight being on him 24/7. But, it’s a transition that must happen, and it must happen soon.
0-1, the Warriors are in a tough and deep Western Conference where even the Suns are now a respectable opponent. To stay alive and even thrive, they’ll need Curry at an MVP level and not turnover-prone moving forward.