NBA news: Steph Curry injury puts Warriors play-off future into question
- Tyler Vaysman
- 19 March 2022
The Golden State Warriors are targeting a strong end to the season, but are they at risk of losing momentum with Steph Curry on the sidelines.
The Golden State Warriors got off to an extremely hot start this season, going 18-2 to start the season, which was reminiscent of their run during the 2015/16 season when they set an NBA record of 73-9 during the regular season.
However, the Warriors have struggled to keep that pace on a consistent basis, as they're currently 47-23.
That is still a very solid record on the surface of things, but who knows if they'd even be there if it wasn't for that hot start they got off to earlier this season?
They were getting the peak version of Stephen Curry during the early stretch of the season and close to the best version of Draymond Green while also incorporating Andrew Wiggins into the flow of things, thus, in turn, making him a first-time All-Star.
Once they added Klay Thompson into the mix, many people thought it would be over for the rest of the league. However, Thompson has struggled to regain his form as one of the best two-way players in the league, but that's to be expected from a guy who has missed over two and a half years of play due to a torn Achilles and ACL injury in back to back years.
Rest of season outlook
Curry is going to be out until the play-offs due to a sprained ligament in his left foot, but according to the reports, he should be back in time for the business end of the season.
However, the big question that will remain at that point in time is if Curry will be able to be his MVP self at that time, or will he be rusty?
Well, it would be rather unreasonable to expect him to be his MVP self after such a long lay-off and going into some of the toughest games of the NBA season, but Curry is one of those rare players who can turn it on in an instant.
The Warriors are also currently holding on to the third seed in the West by 3.5 games, but with Curry now out, the lingering question that will remain is if they can hold onto that spot, or will they see slippage?
The next closest teams to them, the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks, are 6-4 and 8-2 in their last ten games. If those two teams continue to win and the Warriors go on a long losing streak with Curry out, the Warriors could suddenly find themselves with the fifth seed.
They'll then likely face Dallas or Utah, which are two teams that can easily beat the Warriors with or without Curry.
There are a lot of variables in play here, but it's hard to envision this being the Warriors' year to win it all.
