Steph Curry continued his scorching taking pictures from the second half of Sport 7 in opposition to the Houston Rockets by scoring 13 factors in 13 minutes in Sport 1 in opposition to the Minnesota Timberwolves. However his hamstring harm makes the Golden State Warriors‘ path to extra collection wins far more onerous.
The Warriors introduced Wednesday that Curry would miss at least one week after he was identified with a Grade 1 hamstring pressure. That is comparatively excellent news for the Warriors, since that is the lowest diploma of harm, however it nonetheless means he’ll miss at the least the following three video games. If the Warriors can win a type of video games, Curry might sit till Sport 6 on Could 18, giving him 12 days of restoration time.
Can the Warriors keep afloat whereas Curry is out? They will must lean closely on Jimmy Butler to do it. “Playoff Jimmy” has carried short-handed groups to playoff success up to now, because of his playmaking, protection and robust skill to get to the foul line.
Golden State acquired 5 three-pointers from Buddy Hield in Sport 1 and 4 from Draymond Inexperienced, however they’re going to want a few of their younger position gamers to step up. Second-year guard Brandin Podziemski scored solely three factors Tuesday evening, however he had a 26-point effort in opposition to the Rockets. Moses Moody will doubtless play greater than his 9 minutes Tuesday, however his taking pictures has been inconsistent, whereas Gary Payton II’s offensive sport is primarily created by others within the type of nook threes and dunks.
The wild card is Jonathan Kuminga, the fourth-year ahead who had fallen out of coach Steve Kerr’s rotation within the first spherical. Whereas Kuminga has struggled, he does have a singular skill among the many remaining Warriors to drive to the ring and draw fouls. The Warriors will want Kuminga to hold the scoring load at occasions, regardless of his defensive limitations.
The Warriors’ greatest hope comes on the opposite facet of the ball, the place Curry-free lineups that includes Butler have been top-tier defenses. Since Butler joined the group in February, such items have a point differential of +12.8 because of their lockdown protection. Payton and Inexperienced aren’t nice shooters, however they’re elite defenders, as is Butler. Giving extra minutes to Moody and middle Kevon Looney provides the Warriors extra rebounding and protection as effectively.
It should be laborious for the Warriors to mount comebacks in the event that they fall behind too far. However their protection may be sufficient to maintain them on this collection till — or if — Curry returns.
