The Golden State Warriors have flipped their early-season fortunes on its head over the past three games, but they risk losing that wave of momentum with the reality that Stephen Curry and Draymond Green will rest from Sunday's game against the L.A. Clippers.
The Warriors will be without their franchise superstar and defensive leader as they look to go above .500 for the first time this season. They've instead chosen to make Curry and Green available for the second night of the back-to-back against the Phoenix Suns on Monday.
Warriors risk losing momentum with Stephen Curry rest
After an 0-3 start that had some thinking the season was already on the rocks, Curry has led a major turnaround in the past week that's featured impressive road wins over the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves, and most recently a 17-point victory against the Los Angeles Lakers after facing a 25-point deficit in the first half.
Curry shot a perfect 8-of-8 from the floor for 24 points against the Nuggets, exploded for 44 points in Minnesota, then had 31 points, four rebounds and six assists during the remarkable comeback against the Lakers.
His absence (along with Green's) for Sunday's game against the Clippers puts a likely victory into much more of a 50-50 contest, and therefore threatens to derail the momentum that hit fever pitch in Friday's second half at Chase Center.
While Curry and Green will rest, fellow veteran Al Horford has been cleared to play which means he'll miss Monday's game against the Suns. Young forward Gui Santos is probable as he continues to deal with knee tendinitis that saw him miss Wednesday's game in Minnesota, while he played only 16 minutes on Friday against the Lakers.
Warriors will need young players to stand up against Clippers
Golden State will be hopeful of a better result than last Saturday's game where they rested Curry, Green and others on the second night of a back-to-back in Phoenix. They will have Brandin Podziemski this time around after the young guard missed two of the first three games of the season with back soreness.
The Warriors will need another big performance from Podziemski after he dropped 21 points, five rebounds and six assists on Friday, while they'll be banking on a big bounce-back from 11th overall pick Yaxel Lendeborg who fouled out, had five turnovers, and recorded just six points and one rebound.
Lendeborg and Podziemski will be the keys to the Warriors continuing their momentum against a Clippers team that will be without former All-Stars Brandon Ingram and Bradley Beal, along with Max Strus, Jordan Miller and Yanic Konan Niederhauser.
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