Curry excelling in return, but club is not
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — NBA fans were quite eager to see Stephen Curry back on the court this week.
Sunday’s matinee matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena generated ABC’s largest non-Christmas regularseason audience in four years, averaging nearly 4 million viewers.
Curry returned in that game from a lower left leg injury that had forced him to miss the previous 11 games. He didn’t disappoint, finishing with 27 points and six rebounds in Golden State’s 113-105 loss.
The Warriors have lost each of the two games with Curry back in the lineup, including Tuesday’s 137-128 decision in Oklahoma City. But if there is a silver lining, it’s that the two-time MVP hasn’t missed a beat offensively despite missing a month of action.
Curry has 67 combined points in the two games while shooting 51.2 percent from the field and 51.7 percent from 3-point range. Just more than two-thirds of those points, 45, have come in the second half, a positive sign for the 34-year-old.
“Physically, I feel great,” said Curry, who had 40 points and made 10 3-pointers against the Thunder. “Emotionally, I feel all over the place. Everything’s good trying to track in terms of getting back on the floor and playing my normal minutes. The body responded well.”
The Warriors are 34-32 with 16 games left, good for sixth place — the final guaranteed playoff spot — in the Western Conference.
Dallas and Golden State were a half-game ahead of seventh place entering Wednesday.
Not even Curry’s presence could mask Golden State’s trend of slow starts and playing uninspired defense in recent games, especially on the road. The Warriors have a 108.1 defensive rating at home and 119.0 away from Chase Center, the third-worst road mark in the league.
“I don’t care what you’ve accomplished in the past and what type of talent we have,” Curry said. “There’s certain momentum swings (on the road) that make it even more difficult (to win). We haven’t proven that we can overcome those with just raw talent. We have to continue to stay accountable in those moments where you give the other team life.”
The Warriors’ three-game road trip concludes Thursday night in Memphis. They return for home games against Milwaukee and Phoenix before embarking on a five-game road trip against the Clippers, Hawks, Grizzlies, Rockets and Mavericks.
Having so many road games remaining — nine of the final 16 — could spell trouble for Warriors, who are 7-25 away from San Francisco.
Dropping into the play-in round, for teams 7-10 in the standings, is a real possibility, and widening the lens a little more shows the Warriors just 2½ games from dropping out of the playoff picture entirely.
“We’re not in a safe spot in terms of where we’re at in the standings or the vibe around how we’re playing,” Curry said. “So we have to keep repeating that until we’re blue in the face until we actually do it.”