The way Golden State played Tuesday night without point guard Stephen Curry, falling behind by as many as 33 points en route to a 102-78 loss to Indiana, led to an obvious question.
How long will Curry be out?
“That’s an excuse,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said regarding the impact of Curry’s absence. “We were bad tonight.”
As Curry sat and watched because of a sprained right foot, the Warriors set a season low with 34.1 percent shooting. They failed to score 80 points for just the second time this season.
Golden State didn’t get the big games it needed from its other stars. Guard Monta Ellis finished with 14 points on 7-of-19 shooting with five turnovers, and forward David Lee needed 11 shots to get 12 points and turned the ball over five times.
The other three starters – forward Dorell Wright, center Andris Biedrins and point guard Charles Jenkins – combined to shoot 1 for 15.
“Just a bad game by all of us, all the way across the board,” Lee said. “Like coach said, if anyone thought they played well tonight, they’re kidding themselves.”
Tuesday’s result suggested that the Warriors’ chances of making a playoff run without Curry are slim. Which leaves the Warriors in a tough spot. Forcing Curry to sit an extended period to rest his right foot might doom Golden State to a season-killing losing streak. (That might not be the worst thing to many Warriors fans, since the team gets to keep its first-round pick if the Warriors are in the top seven in the lottery.) However, playing Curry could prolong the woes he has been having with his right heel.
Still, the consensus seems to be that Curry will need only a couple of more days. He tested the foot Tuesday in pregame workouts but couldn’t fully plant and pivot. He said he will test his foot again before Wednesday’s game at Atlanta.
Warriors general manager Larry Riley said the team isn’t yet considering shutting Curry down for an extended period. He said doctors aren’t recommending such, and everyone is encouraged since the deltoid ligament Curry sprained is not the same surgically repaired part of his ankle.
However, Jackson said Curry won’t be playing until his foot is healed.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Jackson said. “You’ve got to use wisdom and make sure he’s 100 percent healthy.”
Curry scoffed at any notion of sitting out an extended period, saying he’ll rest in the offseason. He said the day after the injury, which he sustained in the first quarter of a Feb. 22 win at Phoenix, doctors told him he needed to sit out a week.
He has no plans to sit out much longer than that.
“I am trusting the fact that I’m doing everything I can do,” Curry said. “I’m not doing anything wrong. It’s just an unfortunate situation that something keeps happening.”
It appeared the Warriors could have really used Curry, especially when the game got away from them. Golden State trailed 44-38 late in the second quarter. But Indiana closed the half with an 8-0 run, including two layups and a dunk, to take a 52-38 lead into the locker room. The Warriors went 0 for 5 with three turnovers over the last three minutes.
It took just over three minutes for the Pacers to put the game away. Golden State gave up a 10-2 run to start the third quarter. During that span of 3:07, the Warriors went 1-for-5 shooting with three turnovers. A putback dunk by Pacers center Roy Hibbert gave Indiana a 62-40 lead early in the third.
It only got worse from there as Golden State showed little fight. Jackson said he was disappointed his team let its poor offense carry over to the defensive end.
“Embarrassing,” Jackson said. “We got outworked. We got thoroughly outplayed.”
The timing of Tuesday’s dud probably couldn’t be worse since Golden State was expecting to make a push. The Warriors appeared zapped of all the momentum they’d gained by winning five of eight before the All-Star break, capped with the emotional road win over Phoenix.
Watching his team lose usually gives Curry more of an itch to get back on the court. However, he said he fights the urge to rush back by taking a big-picture perspective.
But not the perspective that involves losing big, retaining the first-round pick and adding a rookie stud to the mix. No doubt, losing Curry for a significant stretch could help that cause.
No, the big-picture perspective Curry is referring to involves his being on the court soon.
“I played 80 games my rookie year and 74 my second year,” Curry said. “I’ve only missed 10 games this year. It’s not like I’m missing half a season because I’m plagued with injuries. In the grand scheme of things, if I miss a couple of games, come back and play well, no one will remember these games.”
– The Warriors not only shot a season low from the field but also from the 3-point line, where they made 3 of 22 (13.6 percent).
The last time the Warriors shot so poorly from the field was March 27, 2010. They made one-third of their shots in a home loss to Dallas. The last time they shot so poorly from 3-point range was Feb. 7, 2011. They went 2 for 18 from deep in a home game against Phoenix.
– Certainly, it wasn’t the return Brandon Rush had envisioned, at least the part where his team got run out of the gym. But Rush’s performance showed just why the Warriors are happy they acquired him from the Pacers.
Rush – in his first game back at Indiana – finished with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting with seven rebounds in 36 minutes. The league leader in 3-point percentage made 2 of 4 attempts.
“We’d love to have him back (next year),” Jackson said of Rush, who could become a restricted free agent after this season. “He’s carved a niche of who he is and how he can be a helpful part of a winning situation.”
