Warriors Veteran Gives Grim View on Stephen Curry Injury

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Al Horford #20 of the Golden State Warriors

It’s been five games since the Golden State Warriors lost point guard Stephen Curry to an unusual knee injury–unusual, at least, as far as NBA players go. Curry is out with runner’s knee, which first started bothering him late last month and which has kept him out through the All-Star game and into the team’s return to action on Thursday night against Boston.

And we know now, too, that Curry will need more time to come back from the injury, and we won’t see him until March. That’s at the earliest.

As ESPN’s Shams Charania wrote, “Warriors’ Stephen Curry will be re-evaluated in 10 days due to his persistent right knee injury, sources tell me and Anthony Slater. He has been sidelined since Jan. 30 and will miss at least five more games.”

Again, take note: It’s at least five more games. Curry will be re-evaluated in early March, but won’t necessarily return to action then. He will likely need time to get back into game shape, and that’s assuming the re-evaluation goes well.

Al Horford: ‘Night and Day’ Without Stephen Curry

If that feels a bit harrowing for Warriors observers and fans, then at least you can say you’re not alone. It’s a bit harrowing for Warriors players, too. After the loss to the Celtics on Thursday in San Francisco, by a count of 126-113, Warriors big man Al Horford spoke to reporters.

He was asked about the absence of Curry during this five-game stretch. Horford was not exactly rosy about the outlook.

“I mean, it’s a big difference. We can’t lie to ourselves,” Horford said. “It’s, you try to do things and figure things out but he just does so much that goes—we see the scoring, we see the amazing plays, but then also, the way that your offense runs and the things he doesn’t get credit for, whether it is assists, whether it is layups, a lot of things that open up for the rest of us, it is a huge gap. It is night and day, completely, how we are with him and without him.”

Warriors Suffering Defensively, Too

Indeed, the difference shows up brightly in the numbers. Before the injury to Curry, the Warriors were an above-average team, with an offensive rating of 114.8, 14th in the league. Without Curry, who is averaging 27.2 points per game, with 3.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists, the Warriors’ offensive rating has dropped to 110.5, which is 21st.

But the defense has also been less engaged, perhaps a surprising development. On Thursday, the Warriors played more two-big lineups, with Horford and new guy Kristaps Porzingis, but the Celtics easily picked them apart.

The Warriors defensive rating was 112.1 with Curry, seventh in the NBA. Without him, that has gone to 116.1, which is 21st.

Said Horford, “I think the key with that is, defensively we have to be able to figure it out and be better. And I feel like we are capable of playing with two bigs. We have to figure it out. We have some of these games now to do that. And obviously, we hope that Steph is back soon but in the meantime, we have to figure it out because we have really good bigs.”

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney