Warriors backups Quinn Cook and Jordan Bell celebrate shorthanded win over Lakers.
Role players lead way with 3 starters injured
During a second-quarter timeout Wednesday night, the Oracle Arena crowd roared as Stephen Curry appeared on the big screen. There in block letters, over the image of Curry in street clothes on the Warriors’ bench, was a message wishing the two-time MVP a happy 30th birthday.
It reinforced that, on a night meant to celebrate the face of the franchise, Golden State was trying to show it could win without him. In beating the Lakers 117-106 to snap just their second two-game skid of the season, the Warriors gave Curry a feel-good present: the reminder that Golden State is far more than its cast of superstars.
“These games are fun, when guys who don’t ordinarily get to play much get a chance and really contribute,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “It strengthens the team.”
Unlike last weekend’s losses in Portland and Minnesota, when Kevin Durant got minimal support, the Warriors’ role players helped pave the way to Wednesday’s victory. With three All-Stars — Curry (tweaked right ankle), Klay Thompson (right thumb frac-
ture) and Draymond Green (right shoulder soreness) — sidelined, players whom casual NBA fans might not know powered a 21-7 run to open the third quarter as Golden State moved to 1-3 all-time without the “Splash Brothers.”
Nick Young (18 points), Omri Casspi (15), Shaun Livingston (13), Quinn Cook (13), Kevon Looney (11) and Zaza Pachulia (10) all scored in double digits, freeing up Durant (26 points, five rebounds, six assists) to shoot only in the flow of the offense and facilitate to wideopen teammates. The Warriors finished 55 percent from the field to overcome 22 turnovers.
“With three All-Stars out, we still want to win the game,” Cook said. “We’re not just coming out here to compete. We definitely want to win, and I thought we did a good job competing tonight.”
It all helped hush those who had argued that, by resting injured players with less than a month remaining in the regular season, Golden State was essentially giving up on chasing down the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed. With Wednesday’s win, the Warriors moved 1½ games back of Houston.
Now, with 14 games until the playoffs, Golden State will need more big nights from its complementary players to stay within striking distance. Curry is set to miss at least three more games. Kerr said pregame that Thompson, who had missed only one game this season before Wednesday, likely will be out a “couple of weeks.”
The good news for the Warriors is that Green’s injury isn’t considered serious, David West (right arm cyst) is expected to return Friday against Sacramento, and Patrick McCaw (non-displaced fracture, left wrist) also should come back within the next week or so.
Not that Golden State will rush back anyone, of course. Its goal all season has been to be at its best come the playoffs. Though his right ankle has hardly swelled since he tweaked it in last Thursday’s win over San Antonio, Curry will spend the coming week strengthening it in hopes of preventing further injury.
In the meantime, role players are gaining valuable experience ahead of the playoffs.
Cook, a two-way-contract player who had struggled with his shot in recent weeks, went 5-for-11 in 28 minutes Wednesday. Completely out of the rotation until the team’s sudden rash of injuries, Casspi needed only eight shots to score his most points in more than a month. Livingston repeatedly posted up defenders for midrange jumpers. After not having put together a double-double since 2016, Pachulia has recorded one in both of the past two games. And Young, the target of much derision for his inconsistency, reminded his critics that he still can provide a big scoring punch off the bench.
It all freed up Kerr to let twoway-contract player Chris Boucher, fresh up from the G League, make his NBA debut in garbage time. Curry watched from the bench with a smile.
“Tonight, we had a lot of guys out and it was a total team effort,” Pachulia said. “Everybody was involved, everyone contributed.”