Draymond admits ‘worry' after momentum ends with Curry injury

Share

SAN FRANCISCO – Momentum limped out on the Warriors and there’s no earthly idea when it might return.

It won’t, as long as Stephen Curry is sidelined.

One game after Draymond Green’s return to the court after a nine-week absence provided the energy behind a fourth consecutive victory on Monday, there went Curry in the second quarter Wednesday night hobbling into the locker room with an injury to his left foot.

A little more than an hour later, the relentless and remorseless Boston Celtics handed the pesky but undermanned Warriors a 110-88 loss that halted their four-game win streak and sucked the optimism out of Chase Center.

“They played great defense,” coach Steve Kerr said after the Warriors were held to a season-low 32-point first half. “There’s a reason they’re No. 1 in the league in defensive efficiency. They’re athletic, physical and did a good job.”

The most frustrating aspect for the Warriors is that the core trio of Curry and Green and Klay Thompson is, once again, reduced to a duo, just as it was on Jan. 9, when Thompson’s return after 31 months coincided with Draymond’s departure.

We still don’t know how good they can be this season, and neither do they.

“Anytime you haven’t had the opportunity to play together, it’s a worry,” Green said. “It seems like every time we get someone back, someone else goes out. That’s definitely a worry because one of the most important things on offense is continuity and consistency. We haven’t been able to build that, for the most part.

“That is 100 percent a worry.”

Curry was knocked to the floor when Boston’s Marcus Smart went diving into his legs chasing a loose ball and came up limping. With 4:09 remaining, Curry left the game and headed for the locker room, never to return. He underwent an MRI after the game, Kerr said.

The Warriors were distressed by the result of the play and displeased with Smart’s decision to go low on Curry.

“I thought it was a dangerous play,” Kerr said.

“I’d expect Marcus Smart to make that play; he plays hard,” Green said. “I can’t call that dirty play, as unfortunate as it was. If it was a dirty play, I would have went and dove into his head. Maybe unnecessary? But that’s the most I can call it.”

If Curry misses three days, he’ll be back Sunday, when the Spurs come to town. If he’s out a week, he’ll miss three games. If he's out two weeks, he’ll miss seven games – with the last two being at Memphis and against the Suns at Chase.

If he’s out any longer than that, the Warriors are so severely compromised – even with Jordan Poole playing spectacularly – that any realistic chance of a making deep playoff journey runs into a wall.

The Celtics came to San Francisco certified as the best team in the NBA for almost two months, winning 18 of their last 22 games. Their defense during that span was No. 1 by a massive margin. The five-point gap between them and the second-place Heat was the same as the gap between Miami and the 11th place Magic.

The Warriors shot 29.3 percent in the first half, 37.2 percent for the game.

Shortly before tipoff, Kerr sat at the podium reciting the list of defensive issues that continued to plague his team even during its four-game win streak. Transition defense, back-door cuts, boxing out. Building a tight defensive “shell.”

He saw all of it, but not from the Warriors.

“When you play a team that’s that physical and long, the open (looks) that you get sometimes aren’t as comfortable, because you feel their defense,” Kerr said. We felt their defense early. They did a hell of a job getting into us and when we did have open looks, we didn’t knock them down.”

RELATED: Draymond's perfect response to Embiid's 'can't shoot' burn

Just like that, the high of Monday was ruined by the sight of Curry leaving the floor and being introduced to the kind of next-level defense the Warriors will have to play to make a deep run in the postseason.

Assuming, that is, Curry is able to return relatively sooner rather than later.

Contact Us