The Golden State Warriors seem to be jinxed with injuries this season. In the beginning, it was Klay Thompson being out for more than 2 years and finally coming back. Right before Klay returned, Draymond Green suffered a calf injury that eventually was connected to his back. Draymond returned last game against the Wizards and lo and behold, Steph Curry injures himself the very next game.
Steph injured his ankle because Marcus Smart landed on it after diving for a loose ball. Steph did not return for the rest of the game and Steve Kerr said in the postgame that he was having the MRI done immediately. Hopefully, it isn’t serious and only requires Steph to sit out for 3-4 games. The Warriors are currently the 3 seed in the Western Conference and were just 0.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies. With Steph Curry being injured there is very little hope that the Warriors could continue fighting for that 2 seed.
At the moment the Warriors have to hold the 3 seed until Steph gets back. The Dallas Mavericks and the Utah Jazz are just 4 and 4.5 games behind them and with enough losses, the Warriors could drop all the way down to the 5 seed. If they end up the 5 seed that would mean that the Warriors lose home-court advantage for the entire Playoffs. Sometimes that is the deciding factor in a series and could be a crucial loss for the Warriors.
Once Steph got injured it was all downhill for the Warriors. They did not have a very good offensive game and towards the end even slacked defensively. The only 2 players in double digits were Jordan Poole (29 points) and Klay Thompson (18 points). The loss ends the Warriors’ 4 game win streak and has broken the momentum they had built after struggling without Draymond Green.
Along with Steph, rookie Moses Moody also got injured. With that, the Warriors now have 7 players injured including key players like Andre Iguodala, Andrew Wiggins, James Wiseman, and Gary Payton Jr. Hopefully the Warriors can remain healthy for the Playoffs and play the brand of basketball that won them multiple championships.