Curry isn’t the cure, he’s the Band-Aid
Stephen Curry’s sentiment postgame was shared by his legions of fans: A win in Game 11 of the season never felt so good. Has a win over the Sacramento Kings ever felt so rewarding?
But even though the victory, in which Curry poured in 47 points and willed his team to snapping a five-game losing streak, felt super nice, and super fun, it was by no means a cure. For the moment, it is just a Band-Aid on the wound.
Aside from the final score (116-113), the first game at Chase Center this month was a microcosm of what is troubling the Golden State Warriors in this young season. Lousy defense. A lack of attention to detail. An inability to hold momentum. An overreliance on older players. A disappearance by the young players.
Head coach Steve Kerr said the way the Warriors beat Sacramento was “not sustainable.” A day after he had pronounced that Jonathan Kuminga would be part of the rotation, the second-year forward had just nine minutes. Center James Wiseman was on the bench. You would think a game against the Kings would be a great time to get the young players key minutes. Instead, the Warriors won the way they typically have: with heavy reliance on the mainstays and asking Curry to take over the game at crunch time.
Relying on Curry to put on an NBA Finals-style masterclass for a desperation win in early November? Not exactly the way the Warriors projected how this season would develop.
The goal this season is to continue the dual-timeline approach: winning with an older core while developing the next generation of players, the ones who eventually will replace the core. It is one of the trickiest things to do in sports, as the Warriors are