USATSI
Stephen Curry exited Saturday’s Golden State Warriors battle with the Dallas Mavericks on account of an obvious knee damage. The second got here within the third quarter, with Golden State holding a large lead over Dallas, who’s enjoying with out star level guard Luka Doncic. Curry was defending a drive by younger Mavericks guard Jaden Hardy when he suffered the obvious damage to his left knee. He left the sport from there and went into the locker room.
This wouldn’t be the primary important damage suffered by Curry this season. He missed 11 video games earlier on on account of a left shoulder subluxation. Durability has at all times been a priority for the smaller Curry. He missed 18 video games final season, and within the 2019-20 marketing campaign he suited up solely 5 instances. Early in his profession, a sequence of ankle accidents hampered his growth, however he was in a position to finally overcome them and develop into an MVP-caliber participant.
An prolonged Curry absence could be a critical concern for a Golden State group that’s underperforming expectations this season. Despite profitable the championship final 12 months, the Warriors are simply 26-26 via 52 video games. They presently occupy the No. 10 seed within the Western Conference, however the standings are so crowded that any time spent with out Curry may knock them out of the play-in spherical totally. The No. 13-seeded Lakers are presently solely two video games behind them.
The Warriors are deep on the guard positions. Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson can scale up their utilization, and Donte DiVincenzo has had a robust comeback season in Golden State. But there isn’t any true substitute for the best shooter of all time, so the Warriors simply must hope that their finest participant is wholesome as quickly as potential.
