Stephen Curry rolled out of bed Monday to prepare his aching knees for another basketball game, though he was listed as questionable with a left ankle sprain on the Warriors’ injury report. He was cleared shortly before tipoff, and it quickly became evident his movement was compromised.
Before blaming his left knee, or right knee or left ankle, consider that by the third quarter, with the Warriors in the throes of a 125-85 demolition by the Boston Celtics, Curry was trying to shake the pain away from his throbbing right thumb.
That thumb, sore for a month and aggravated two days ago, forced Curry into exponentially more left-handed dribbling than usual as the Warriors were being crushed to a fine powder.
This routine — a 36-year-old superstar laboring in vain through incessant physical and mental challenges — is uncomfortable to watch not only for the agitated souls wandering the streets of Dub Nation, but also for those who enjoy competitive, high-quality basketball.
We are entering the stage where it is fair to ask two questions: Is Curry wasting his time? Or is Curry’s time being wasted by his teammates?
With 1:45 left in the third quarter, Warriors coach Steve Kerr, feeling merciful, provided a temporary response to those questions. Golden State was trailing by 32 when he beckoned Curry to the bench and kept him there for the rest of the afternoon. Curry’s replacement? Quinten Post, rookie center on a two-way contract.
White flag raised, towel thrown onto the floor, Warriors back to .500 (21-21) for the fourth time in 14 days.
“We’ve got to flush this one down the toilet and get ready for [Sacramento]” Kerr told reporters at Chase Center.
It was clear Kerr didn’t care to witness his best player, clearly physically impaired, trying to carry the escalating weight of the Warriors through a tunnel without light at the end. The Celtics were ferocious, piling on. The Warriors, after the first eight minutes, were compliant.
After falling behind 8-0 in 92 seconds, the Warriors fought back to tie less than two minutes later. They were trailing 19-17 when Curry was subbed out with 3:35 left in the first quarter. They were outscored 10-1 the rest of the quarter – and 68-45 over the next two.
“It’s just a tough one from the end of the first quarter through the rest of the game,” Curry said. “We came out with pretty good life and energy. A big part of our season has been when we can’t score, we lose spirit, we lose life, we lose competitiveness. You can get away with it against some teams. Against the defending champs it’s not a good formula for success.”
The Warriors, Curry aside, looked bereft of determination during the middle quarters. They went exactly 10 minutes without a field goal, spanning the last 5:20 of the first quarter and the first 4:40 of the second. Through the first three quarters, they shot 34.8 percent from the field, including 22.2 percent from beyond the arc.
“We were getting a lot of good looks,” Kerr said. “We were competing defensively, but the ball wasn’t going in.”
The Warriors are discovering that it’s very difficult for this roster to win when it doesn’t shoot well, particularly from distance. Unlike many teams, they don’t have four or five players capable of scoring at all three levels. Or getting to the line. Or consistently making shots at the rim.
One such player, Jonathan Kuminga, is sidelined with a sprained ankle. Another, Curry, is gritting his teeth and putting in the effort to be as productive as possible under unwanted circumstances. He scored 18 points in 27 minutes, but didn’t have much support.
Andrew Wiggins scored four points on 1-of-11 shooting from the field. Dennis Schröder and Buddy Hield combined for 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting, including 2 of 8 from deep. Moses Moody came off the bench for 13 points on 13 shots.
That’s not going to beat defending champs, who seemed to find all the holes in Golden State’s 3-point defense.
“You’ve just got to be able to come with the right attitude,” Curry said. “Like I said, it’s a belief thing that we can win whatever game is in front of us. It’s more so like an in-game thing. If doubt creeps in or a mindset that you’re not supposed to be on the floor, you’re a team that’s unbeatable, like I don’t know what it could be or what it is. You have to be able to just focus on what we need to do and hope it works out.”
The Celtics jumped on their reeling opponent with both feet, shooting 54.3 percent from the field and 41.7 percent beyond the arc to take a 97-63 lead into the fourth quarter. Kerr gave the fourth to the guys at the far end of the bench.
“We’ve been very competitive all year and our guys have fought,” Kerr said. “We’ve had a handful of these where we just get blown out and these are demoralizing. So most important thing to me is for our guys to forget this one, have a day off tomorrow, and be ready to roll in Sacramento on Wednesday.”
If only it were that simple. As the Warriors get deeper into the 2024-25 NBA season, they seem to have more lapses in execution and principles, which adversely affect physicality and energy. It’s becoming a recurring issue. Only once in their first 21 games did they lose by more than 10 points. They’ve endured six such defeats over their last 21.
Six of their next seven games will be at Chase Center, the other at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The schedule is relatively favorable. Team health is not. Draymond Green and Kuminga likely will miss all seven games. The mountain ahead seems to be growing higher.
“Next man up mentality,” Curry said. “Everybody who steps foot on the floor has gotta be able to perform, bring a spirit of ‘you belong,’ and do it together as a unit. Didn’t happen tonight.”
Curry will ignore his ailments and keep climbing, even though he is getting no closer to his goal. He’s fighting for a cause that feels more futile each day.
