You can’t raise a championship banner in October.
But you can certainly raise a red flag.
Consider one flying over Chase Center after the Warriors’ 112-104 loss to the Clippers on Sunday. That’s not because the Dubs came out flat against long-time nemesis James Harden, but because the game saw superstar Steph Curry twist his left ankle not once but twice in the second half of the contest.
The ankle injury (injuries?) saw Curry limping into the locker room with 7:55 to play in the fourth quarter and will unquestionably sideline him for a while. The Dubs have a back-to-back with the Pelicans on Tuesday and Wednesday — Curry is out for those games. That’s followed by a five-game road trip to start November.
It’s far too early to really care about the team’s win-loss record (they’re 2-1 on the season, if you must know), but it’s not too early to start counting the contests Curry misses.
That’s because the Warriors entered this season with a specific conceit: they could be one of the best teams in the Western Conference without a clear-cut No. 2 to augment and backstop Curry.
No, they would win by having the deepest roster in the NBA as support for the 36-year-old guard. The Warriors wanted to revisit the “Strength In Numbers” days. It’s more like the “It Takes a Village” era.
Now, it’s being put to the test.
To be clear: That one-star plan would only reasonably work if that one star played roughly 70 games this season. The first two contests of the campaign — blowout wins over tanking teams — were played to perfection, as Curry spent both fourth quarters on the bench, off his feet and out of the fray.
Yes, 70 games. The number might be arbitrary, but the impact of Curry missing time is anything but.
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And seeing as he can only reasonably miss 12 games in the regular season, and circumstance dictates he uses some of that allotment early, there are ample reasons for concern.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr called Curry’s ankle sprain “mild” and “moderate” after the contest. Either way, it’s still “sidelining.” The way the Warriors handle injuries, there won’t be an exact timeframe placed on his return — he’ll simply be …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
