SET FOR REMATCH
Warriors expect Curry to play tonight after tweaking ankle
The effects of Stephen Curry’s rough night apparently won’t linger. After injuring his ankle during his worst scoring night of the season Wednesday, the Warriors star will probably play in tonight’s rematch against the Clippers, coach Steve Kerr said.
“He told me he’s feeling pretty good. It’s just a tweak,” Kerr said, noting Curry participated in the walk-through portion of Thursday’s practice before undergoing treatment on his left ankle. Curry is officially listed as questionable for tonight’s game.
Curry’s ankle injury didn’t bother him quite as much as pesky Pat Beverley and the suffocating Clippers’ defense did during a 108-101 Warriors loss at Chase Center.
Curry was constantly hounded and pounded by the Clippers while shooting a season-worst 5 of 17 (.294) and scoring a season-low 13 points.
Of course, we remember what happened the last time Curry was humbled in a loss and had an immediate shot at redemption against the same team. The entire basketball world remembers how Curry destroyed the Blazers on Sunday, scoring 62 points just two days after Damian Lillard talked about how scoring wouldn’t be so easy for Curry without a Klay Thompson or Kevin Durant after Portland ripped the Warriors.
Curry’s scoring flurry was certainly fresh on the mind of Clippers coach Tyronn Lue before
and during his team’s victory Wednesday.
“Our philosophy is we want to try to take the best player out,” Lue said. “We know Steph could go for 60 like he did the other day.”
Naturally. Step h’ s chances of erupting for 60 points against the Clippers’ 11th-ranked defense would be exponentially more difficult than it was against Portland’s sixth-worst defense. The Blazers have offensive-minded Lillard and C.J.Mc Coll um, along with a plodding Jusuf Nurcic, none of whom are known for their defense. Contrast that with the Clippers’ Beverley, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George — arguably the best defensive trio any team has — and you begin to understand why Curry was shackled.
REMATCH WITH CLIPPERS >> The Warriors will complete their second back-toback series in the last week when they host the Clippers at Chase Center today, which thrills Kerr to no end.
Well, the “back-to-back” part excites him. Facing the Clippers, maybe not so much. Kerr believes the two-game series offers he and his staff some prime teaching moments.
“As a young team, it’s great to be able to watch the tape and see the mistakes you made and be able to see the same picture in the next game, with the same personnel and the same game plan, for the most part, and execute where maybe you made some mistakes in the first game,” Kerr said.
The lessons took hold against Portland and he’s hoping for the same test results tonight.
“Who knows what’ll happen, but I’m very confident that our guys will take the lessons that we learned from last night and apply them.”
Warriors backup guard Mychal Mulder confirmed they spent a little more time than usual Thursday dissecting game film.
“A lot of good and a lot of things to learn from that film session. I know a lot of guys, myself included, went home and re-watched the game right away,” said
Mulder. “It was good to see the strides we made over the past couple of weeks. We look a lot different than we did even last weekend. We’re continuing to grow, and strive to get better on the defensive end, which will translate and flow into our offensive execution.
“There were a lot of things to take away from that game. A lot of positives, a lot things to grow on, and we’re looking forward to taking that next step.” WISEMAN’S GROWING PAINS >> A missed read on defense, a failure to set a pick, a missed shot here or there, they’ve all led to rookie James Wiseman showing his frustration at times, including in the fourth quarter against Portland. But there’s nothing Kerr has seen from second overall pick to make him feel any less enthusiastic about his 7-footer’s future.
Wiseman’s production has been fine — 11.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.6 blocks in eight games — even during his steep learning curve.
Kerr sees Wiseman absorbing information every
day while watching film and working with player development coach Theo Robertson. The 19-year-old Wiseman listens and asks the right questions.
“You can tell he’s soaking it all in. And then he’s not afraid to admit that everything’s going really fast right now,” Kerr said. “James has this great balance of really being poised and mature in the face of this avalanche of information that’s coming to him on a daily basis.
“Playing with and against the greatest players in the world. If any of us tried to imagine ourselves, a year out of high school, basically, trying to accomplish what James is accomplishing. If you picture it that way, you’re like ‘Oh my gosh, this is daunting and overwhelming,’ and it’s a good reminder of just how well he’s doing. I try to remind him of that perspective.”
LIN WILL REPORTEDLY JOIN G LEAGUE TEAM >> The deal to bring Jeremy Lin to the Warriors organization looks to be back on.
Lin is expected to join Golden State’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, via a contract with the G League itself, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Lin played last season in China for the Beijing Ducks, which complicated his effort to return to the Warriors last month. The transaction required clearance from FIBA, but that did not come through in time for the Warriors to officially bring Lin into the fold.
The G League expects to conduct some version of a season inside a bubble, reportedly beginning in February at Walt Disney World, the same location where the NBA finished its season and played its playoffs last season amid the raging coronavirus pandemic.
Lin’s path to the Warriors’ NBA roster still would be an uphill climb. He’s not eligible for a two-way contract, so Golden State would have to release a player in order for him to join the main roster.
What may be a more likely path is using the G League as a chance to sign with another team or as a path to a shot to join the Warriors’ NBA roster in the 2021-22 season.