With Stephen Curry sidelined with a hamstring strain, expect Golden State to lean heavily on its defense against Minnesota.
MINNEAPOLIS – With Steph Curry sidelined for at least a week by a strained left hamstring, the Timberwolves would appear to have the Golden State Warriors right where they want them.
Or vice versa.
Facing a playoff opponent that has lost its best player just 13 minutes into the series should be a golden ticket to the NBA’s next round, one might think. Golden State has been built around Curry for more than a decade, riding arguably the league’s greatest shooter ever to four championships in seven seasons.
The magician/tormentor with seeing-eye range on his 3-point shot is an 11-time All-Star and, at age 37, still is one of the league’s most potent scorers and toughest covers. Now he is lost to the Warriors for at least the next three games in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals.
Curry hobbled off the court at Target Center at 8:19 of the second quarter of Tuesday’s series opener, grabbing a couple times at his left hamstring. An MRI exam Wednesday revealed a Grade 1 strain and the team said he would be reevaluated in a week.
With games scheduled more tightly in the conference semis than in the first round, a week could feel like an eternity to Golden State. After Game 2 on Thursday (8:30 ET, TNT), the series shifts to San Francisco for Games 3 and 4 Saturday and Monday.
Game 5 would be back in Minnesota on Wednesday, May 13, eight days after Curry’s injury. If his recovery from this soft-tissue injury were to lag beyond that, well, his return might fall under the same heading – “if necessary” – as potential Games 6 and/or 7.
There’s a reason Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who got to Curry at halftime after the veteran’s abrupt departure, simply hugged him. Later, Kerr used the word “crushed” to describe Curry’s mood.
“It’s tough,” teammate Jimmy Butler said. “One of the greatest to ever do it, and he wants to be out there. I think he knows, and we know, how much easier the game is for us whenever he’s hooping at a high level.”
Golden State will need to get through these looming games the hard way, then. Minnesota, meanwhile, would be wise not to exhale or expect anything easier without Curry to bedevil them.
“I know when we play teams without their best player, we kind of struggle sometimes,” wing Jaden McDaniels said. “So just treating Buddy [Hield] like Steph, not letting him have a game [24 points] like he did last game … so trying to just shut his water off.”
Pay no attention to the Las Vegas oddsmakers, who actually reacted to the injury news by making the Wolves even heavier favorites to prevail in the series. That’s not supposed to happen when a team drops the opening game – at home. But that’s how integral Curry is to all that the Warriors do.
The last time the NBA’s all-time leading 3-point shooter suffered a serious injury setback came in October 2019. He suffered a broken hand and played in only five games that season. Golden State went 15-50.
A more recent sample, though much smaller: In the games Curry missed this season, the Warriors went 7-5.
Over his career, Golden State has gone 104-51 when Curry has played stretching back to 2013. In the 12 postseason games he missed, its record is 9-3.
“Playoffs every year are about adapting, whether it’s a game plan or an injury, a lineup,” Kerr said Wednesday. “We’ve done this before.
“It’s just up to us to adapt and figure it out.”
Golden State did that on the fly in Game 1. The Warriors led 30-20 when Curry left the game. Then they outscored the Wolves 69-68 over the final 32 minutes.
“He had 13 points in 13 minutes,” Minnesota guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “Then they kicked our asses for the rest of the night.”
A day later, after a video review, Wolves players and coaches seemed disgusted enough with their collective performance that they would bring a more intense and assertive version of themselves to Game 2. Curry or no Curry. Don’t expect Anthony Edwards to wander through a 1-point first half again.
“We got beat at the possession game and that had nothing to do with whether Steph was on the floor or not,” coach Chris Finch said. “Also in transition. … There are a lot of things we have to improve on.”
Said DiVincenzo: “The things that we can change are very changeable.”
Both Kerr and Finch shared video clips with the league and aired grievances to reporters about what they felt was overly physical play. It sounded like gamesmanship: Minnesota knows the Warriors will need to slow the pace and muddy up the game the way they did in the second half Tuesday to win going forward. Golden State wants the game officials to focus on the home team while they clog the middle to fend off Edwards’ drives and stay as handsy as they can.
“We think we have the best defense in the league,” Kerr said. “That’s been proven over the last couple of months, based on defensive efficiency, but also based on our confidence in Draymond [Green] behind the play and Jimmy. We have to generate offense off of our D and then figure out different ways to attack without Steph.”
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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