Warriors waiting for star power to return

The doors to the Warriors practice gym opened, providing a window on the team’s star power.

Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant engaged in a shooting contest that lasted about 20 minutes. At one point, Durant made four consecutive 3-pointers before finally missing one. Curry sank eight consecutive 3-pointers before one hit off the rim.

“I just pinch myself,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

But just because Curry and Durant’s post-practice shooting returned Thursday, things are not exactly back to normal. Durant remains sidelined for at least a week with a rib injury.

Though the Warriors (5318) enter Friday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks (21-50) expecting Curry to return after missing the past six games with a right ankle injury, the Warriors and Curry conceded his ankle has not fully healed.

“I don’t want to overstate it. There is definitely aspects of bone bruises and ligaments and all of that stuff that happens with ankles that doesn’t really bother you on the floor. But if you’re being really nitpicky, it’s definitely not 100 percent,” Curry said.

“Right now, there’s nothing that’s going to happen between now and the end of June that can change that.

“If we’re trying to win a championship, I need to be out there obviously. That’s a given when it comes to the team we put together. We want every single guy healthy and available, myself included. That’s the ideal situation,” Curry said.

Hornets

One night after grabbing a personal-best 30 rebounds, Charlotte center Dwight Howard will sit out Thursday’s home game against Memphis. Howard will serve an automatic onegame suspension for accumulating 16 technical fouls this season. Howard received No. 16 in the second half of Wednesday’s 111-105 victory at Brooklyn. Howard totaled 32 points and 30 rebounds Wednesday, the first 30-30 game since Kevin Love did it with Minnesota in November 2010.

Bulls

Chicago guard Antonio Blakeney will miss the remainder of the season because of a broken bone in his left wrist. Blakeney was injured in Monday’s loss at New York. He scored six points on 3-for-10 shooting in Wednesday’s loss to Denver after being listed as questionable. The Bulls say an MRI confirmed the fracture.