Curry fell again.
"The bad news is that Curry is injured, and the good news is that he has no season reimbursement." When Kerr said this in an interview, the atmosphere of helplessness permeated the Warriors.
On February 6, Beijing time, the Golden State Warriors officially announced that the core of the team, Stephen Curry, suffered a partial tear of the upper tibiofibular ligament and interosseous membrane and a contusion of the left calf, and the specific comeback time will be announced in the next few days.
This isn't the first injury Curry has been made this season, but with the Warriors 8th in the West with a 27-26 record and just 29 games left in the regular season, the defending champions really can't afford to hurt.
Curry has already had a long absence this season.
Curry is injured again, and injuries are rare
Against the Lone Ranger, the Warriors beat their opponents 119-113 at home, winning an all-important card battle and raising their winning percentage back to more than 50%.
But this game may once again be a turning point for the Warriors this season. With 2 minutes left in the third quarter, Curry was pushed to the left leg by the lone ranger McKinley Wright during a defensive process and then jumped painfully into the audience.
Curry, limping back to the bench, also tried to convince the team's head of sports medicine and sports management, Rick Selebrini, to allow him to continue playing. But after further consultation, Curry walked into the player tunnel.
The final diagnosis was made, and Curry suffered a partial tear of the upper tibiofibular ligament and interosseous membrane and a contusion of his left lower leg. According to injury expert Jeff Stotts,
Curry's injury is rare in the NBA, and the one who can refer to Curry's injury may be Smart in the 2015-2016 season, who suffered an upper tibiofibular subluxation and missed 37 days (18 games).
Curry was injured in the game against the Lone Ranger.
Although the Warriors have not yet given Curry a comeback time, Curry will obviously miss all games before the All-Star, and even Yahoo Sports has thrown the question: "Who should replace Curry in the All-Star, Edwards or Fox?" ”
However, the result of this injury is obviously better than Curry's psychological expectations. Kerr briefly talked to Curry after the MRI results came in, and the results were better than expected:
"The first thing he said to me was, 'The good news is I'm going back.'" He's in good spirits, and I think so are the others, and we're going to keep going. ”
This isn't the first injury Curry has been injured this season — Curry missed 11 games earlier in the season because of a left shoulder subluxation. During that time, the Warriors had a 6-5 record.
Kerr said something similar at the time: "If Curry is going to be out, then we still have to look forward." ”
Looking ahead, it has become Cole's most frequently talked about answer recently.
Without Curry, the Warriors' record will fall?
Curry's braces, the Warriors' tolerance rate
For Curry, this season has been scarred.
Two days before the game against the Lone Ranger, Curry was injured at the Nuggets' home court, and the injury was in his left calf. Therefore, in the injury report before the game against the Lone Ranger, Curry's physical condition was shown as a high probability due to a left calf contusion.
Not only that, before Curry retired injured, Kerr had planned to reduce Curry's playing time, because he was worried that Curry and Green, two veterans, would play too long, so Cole replaced Curry and Green earlier than usual in the first quarter. It's just that Curry has had bad luck this season and suffered another injury.
Curry's current situation is a microcosm of the Warriors' season — if the Warriors aren't focused enough, they can't win games.
Before the Lone Ranger, the Warriors had a 26-26 win rate of just 50%, and the 50% win rate carried through the Warriors this season. From 1-1 to 10-10 to 26-26, the Warriors have had 14 team wins of 50 this season.
As for the reason, according to Green: "I think in the key moments of the game, we don't do useful things, we need to be more effective in the key moments. ”
Poole (left) cannot replace Curry's role.
Most notably, the Warriors played home against the Grizzlies on Jan. 26, where the Warriors were still two points ahead at the end of the fourth quarter with 1:16 left, but Poole opted to make a long-range 3-pointer with 12 seconds left in the team's offensive time.
After seeing Poole "Wave Throw" hitting the iron, Curry threw the braces out in a rare way and received an eviction.
Curry has been ejected for throwing braces three times in his career, and only once for throwing braces by an angry teammate.
Although Poole ended up helping the Warriors win the game with a three-pointer, and Curry waited in the post-game player tunnel for Poole to finish the interview and hug each other, the Warriors had to accept the reality that their margin of error was getting lower this season.
If you look at the Warriors' recent games as a whole, you can see why Curry cares so much about a "wave shot."
Against the Nets, the Warriors were beaten 6-22 in the final 6 minutes, losing their 17-point lead; Against the Jazz, he led by 4 points in the last 10 seconds and was eliminated by the opponent; Against the Timberwolves without Towns and Gobert, he scored 71 points at halftime and led by 14 points in the third quarter, only to be dragged into overtime by his opponent in the final quarter and complete the comeback...
According to statistics, the Warriors have led by double digits in a total of 7 games this season, but were eventually reversed by opponents, the most in the league.
After the loss to the Timberwolves, Klay described the team this way: "We lost the ability to finish games like we used to. ”
After Curry's return, he will face Irving head-to-head in the Western Conference competition.
Deal, don't think about it
In the middle of the season, Cole was not without a solution to the team's fatigue.
He tried to remove Looney from the starting line-up and started with a small line-up, but after nine games Cole switched back to Green and Looney starting together.
This season, when the combination of Curry, Klay Thompson, Wiggins, Green and Looney played 331 minutes together, the goal difference was +145, the second-highest five-man combination in the league, behind the Nuggets' starting lineup.
Obviously, the most reliable of the Warriors today is still this group of veterans, but it is obviously irrational to consume these resources in the regular season. As Kerr said: "I've been watching the playing time of Curry and Green in the last 10 games. Their time has improved and I think we need to reduce their playing time as much as possible. ”
With the needs of the record in one hand and the veteran recuperation in the other, Cole is also in a situation where it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.
With Curry's injury, Kerr said Poole will be in the team's starting lineup. In the 15 games Curry has missed this season, Poole has averaged 27.7 points and 4.2 assists in the starts, but also has 4.9 turnovers.
In addition, Poole started this season with a 14-16 record and when he came off the bench, the Warriors were 13-10.
Poole's start is just a compromise for the Warriors, and the team may still pull the ups and downs in the word mediocrity.
Trading may be the main means for most teams to "unpack", but the trade market has not been good this season, and the Warriors have not even had many trade rumors when the NBA trade window is about to close.
When fans offered the Warriors to trade Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody and two first-round picks, Warriors reporter Tim Kawakami explained: "They can't trade this year's first-round pick, and next year's first-round pick isn't in their hands [Iguodala's deal], and they can't trade the 2025 first-round pick." ”
Draft picks are limited on the one hand, and a game between management and bosses on the other.
At present, general manager Miles has half a year left on his contract, and the two sides have not reached a renewal agreement, and at the same time, owner Lacob seems to care more about young players, so the American media "The Athletic" wrote this paragraph:
"This transfer window will be very quiet for the Warriors, with some teams calling to ask about Kuminga, Wiseman and Moody, but the Warriors want to keep these youngsters and the veterans won't be there for the next four years."
Myers' recent interview seems to support this statement: "There are a lot of teams that haven't given up on this season, resulting in not many potential trade partners. ”
As of now, the Warriors are 8th in the West with a 27-26 record, 0.5 wins behind the 6th Lone Rangers in the West and 1.5 wins ahead of the 11th Blazers in the West, and the Warriors are on thin ice with 29 games left in the regular season.
But all they can do now is Cole's words: "No matter what, we will be ready and move on." ”