Warriors beat Rockets despite Curry injury, virus protocol.
Curry leaves rout of Houston after thirdquarter fall
For much of the Warriors’ 10894 win over the Rockets at Toyota Center on Wednesday night, they had reason to feel optimistic: After learning that it’d be without center James Wiseman and forward Eric Paschall because of coronavirus contact tracing, Golden State thrived, thoroughly outplaying a lotterybound opponent.
Then, with his team up 15 at the end of the third quarter, guard Stephen Curry stumbled backward after missing a 3point attempt. With no one there to catch his fall, he landed in a clearing next to the Rockets’ bench, his backside hitting the edge of a metal platform riser.
Minutes later, the Warriors announced that Curry had a bruised tailbone and wouldn’t return to the game. This was just the latest bit of adversity for a team getting accustomed to challenges. A couple of hours earlier, news broke that Wiseman and Paschall — two young players Golden State hopes will blossom — had entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Those two will have a sevenday quarantined absence
for contact tracing, which leaves Golden State without them for at least three more games. Given that the Warriors don’t have clarity on how much time Curry will be out, they had a tough time enjoying Wednesday’s win.
Head coach Steve Kerr said that Curry told him he would be fine, but Kerr added that he has “no idea” whether Curry will be available Friday in Memphis. One thing is certain: It would be harder to beat the Grizzlies, who are a game behind the Warriors in the conference standings, without Curry.
Though it was surely nice to get a convincing victory two days after a 31point drubbing by the Lakers, Golden State understood that these are hardly the same Rockets who were recently one of its biggest threats in the Western Conference. Houston, which is without two of its best players in John Wall and Victor Oladipo, lost its franchiserecord 18th game in a row despite the return of center Christian Wood.
After the Warriors built a 26point lead, they let the Rockets cut the margin to 14 early in the fourth quarter, only to make enough stops to rid the matchup of doubt down the stretch. Guard Jordan Poole, who has emerged as a goto option off the bench since his return from the G League, paced Golden State with 23 points, including a careerbest six 3pointers.
“I really don’t think he should’ve been in the G League, to be honest,” guard Kelly Oubre Jr. said of Poole, who is averaging 19 points over his past five games. “But at the end of the day, he did go down there. He kept his head high, and he came back out on top.”
Forward Draymond Green posted his second tripledouble in three games (16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists).
Curry had 18 points and eight assists. Oubre Jr. chipped in 19 points, and forward Andrew Wiggins added 17.
Such balanced scoring was encouraging for a team that has relied on Curry just to be in the playoff picture this season. But before the Warriors can feel great about themselves, they know they must string together an extended winning streak.
It doesn’t help that the next three games, in which it’ll be without at least Wiseman and Paschall, Golden State has backtoback road games against the playoffcontending Grizzlies before it hosts the Eastern Conferenceleading 76ers.
The good news: After that stretch, the Warriors face numerous below.500 teams. Their strength of schedule the rest of the season is easier than every team in the league outside of Utah and Dallas.
Golden State could use a bit of a reprieve, given that the past few months have been laden with challenges.
“That was an important game for us,” Kerr said of the win over the Rockets. “We’re coming off a really tough stretch of games, and having lost five of six, we needed to take care of business tonight, and we did.”