Luck, like everything, on Warriors’ side
Yes, Stephen Curry is hurt but Golden State has escaped serious injury
The NBA playoffs never seem to cooperate.
For months and months, we play all the best-case scenarios out in our heads — the best matchups, the clashing of top-tier stars, the storylines that are of most interest. And then, the pomp always gives way to the circumstance.
Injuries happen, like the ones that sent the Clippers’ Chris Paul (broken hand) and Blake Griffin (quadriceps tendon tear) to the sideline until next season and forced Boston’s Avery Bradley (hamstring) out of the first round and into the off-season after just one game. Dallas — with no Chandler Parsons (knee) and no Deron Williams (sports hernia) for the final three games of the first round loss to Oklahoma City — was doomed as well.
Still, there are plenty of positives to highlight as this reality-based post- season plods on. And luck, as is so often the case in sports, played a part here too. The good kind, of course. The Golden State Warriors, who were the undeniable benefactors of several opponent injuries en route to their title in 2015, appear to have gotten lucky again. At least when compared to their Clippers counterparts, that is. Reigning MVP Stephen Curry could return from his right knee sprain as soon as Game 3, with plenty of time to get comfortable again before the Western Conference final appearance that looks so likely at the moment (the Warriors are up 1-0 on the Portland Trail Blazers after winning 118-106 in Game 1).
Coach Steve Kerr even told reporters on Tuesday that Curry will be listed as “doubtful” for Game 2 on Wednesday. The champs will most certainly take it.
Here’s all you need to know about how long it has been since the Toronto Raptors reached the second round of the playoffs: The aforementioned MVP’s father, Dell Curry, played 71 games for that Vince Carter-led team of 2000-01 that would eventually fall to Allen Iverson’s Philadelphia 76ers in a second-round series.
No matter what happens in the Raptors’ second-round matchup with Miami, downing the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 on Sunday was a big moment for a franchise that was in flux just a few years ago.
And again, good fortune came into play here too.
Seven months after the Raptors lured Masai Ujiri out of Denver to head up their front office, he had a deal in place in December 2013 that would have sent point guard Kyle Lowry to the New York Knicks in exchange for Iman Shumpert, Metta World Peace and a first-round pick. The Knicks killed the deal, with Lowry telling USA Today Sports earlier this season that “that deal was done.”
Three seasons later, the Lowry-DeMar DeRozan backcourt was the building block of what has become a top-tier Eastern Conference team.
Lest the luck narrative get traction all over again as it relates to the Warriors, there’s nothing lucky about what they’ve done on the defensive end this post-season.
With and without Curry, and with a major hat-tip to Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala, they’re tough to score on. The Warriors’ defensive rating (91.2 points allowed per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com/ stats) was tied for tops among playoffs teams with San Antonio (91.2 entering Monday).