Warrior Nation had a major scare during last Sunday’s game four victory over the Houston Rockets. Their star player, Stephen Curry slid awkwardly on a wet spot on the court while attempting to guard Houston’s Trevor Ariza shortly before halftime. Curry grabbed his knee in pain and limped off the court. On Monday he was taken for an MRI and it revealed Curry will miss at least the next two weeks with a sprained right MCL.
“From our perspective, relatively good news,” Warriors general manager Bob Myers said Monday.
The Warriors are doing surprisingly well without their front man.
Many people were unaware on how the Warriors would respond after hearing the news that their best player will be out for a few weeks at the least. Well, let’s just say last night the Warriors made a statement to the whole NBA that they are not just a one man team. Curry’s backcourt partner Klay Thompson got things rolling early on. He started things of with a quick three pointer to get the sell-out crowd at Oracle Arena going. Thompson finished with seven three pointers and 27 points to help lead the Warriors into the second round of the playoffs without their injured superstar. Thompson became the first player in NBA history to make at least seven 3s in consecutive playoff games.
Draymond Green also had a great game. He finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists. The Warriors will take on the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers vs Portland Trail Blazers series. After the game, Green said “Everybody, they think Steph goes down and the entire series changes. But we thought otherwise”. This was a big victory for the Warriors organization as they look to repeat as NBA champions come June.
From the moment Curry went down, the Warriors took their game up a notch with a spectacular second half in Game 4, finishing the 121-94 victory with a playoff-record 21 3-pointers and 38 assists on 46 field goals.
It won’t be easy for the Warriors to get back to NBA Finals without Steph Curry, but they have proved that they can ride the ship until he returns.