Things are getting rough for the Golden State Warriors at the wrong time. While they once stood at the top of the league this season, they’ve gone through injury problems, the latest of which is a foot injury to Steph Curry that has him sidelined indefinitely.
Since Curry was injured after Marcus Smart dove for the ball next to him, the Dubs have lost three-straight games. That’s been a damper on their spirits, especially since they had just recovered from a five-game losing streak and stringed together four wins in a row. They were blown out 110-88 by the Celtics and then lost to the San Antonio Spurs and Orlando Magic by a combined margin of six points.
The loss to the Magic especially hurts considering that Orlando are one of the four worst teams in the league this season, sporting a 20-53 record. They were generally awful, with Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole combining to score 39 points on 42 shots. To put that into context, Otto Porter Jr. and Jonathan Kuminga each scored 14 while only taking eight shots apiece.
Some Warriors fans online are even clamoring for Kuminga to get more of Wiggins’ game time.
Draymond Green, whose return came to much fanfare because of his importance to the team, admitted that they’d been punked and outplayed by the Magic.
As important as Green’s return was, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the past talking about him being a key cog in the Warriors’ success, losing Curry is an even bigger blow to them. They only have ten games left in the season, half of which are against teams bound for the postseason, and are missing the cheat code that can still occasionally win them games on his own.
While Curry is quietly optimistic that he can return to the lineup by the time the playoffs roll in, foot injuries are never easy to deal with, especially for a guard who relies heavily on an otherworldly jumpshot.
The Warriors are also in a tough spot in the standings, and since they relinquished their second-place spot to the Memphis Grizzlies a while back, now find themselves ahead of the fourth-place Dallas Mavericks by only two games, the fifth-place Utah Jazz by three games, and the sixth-place Denver Nuggets be 3.5 games.
The season started with a lot of promise for Golden State, and it’s not like they’re definitely cooked quite yet. Curry still could make an effective comeback in the playoffs, but the season that finally saw Green, Thompson and Curry reunite on the court is starting to look shaky. I think it’s great for the league when the Dubs are competitive, so I personally hope that things work out. I want the playoffs to be as competitive as possible, and there’s no question that a healthy Warriors team is a part of that equation.
