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Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry watched as he supported his bestie’s retro kicks.
Curry saw LeBron James, whom he shares origin with, look timeless again. Doing things that are difficult for a 27-year-old, forget 41. Curry wanted to be out there — who knows of another Steph vs. LeBron game in the future? — and give the world the first taste all season of this marquee matchup, but the course of the Warriors’ season has had other plans.
The 38-year-old Warriors star could only watch as his team was dug in a deeper and deeper hole, as James looked more and more ageless.
Two, just two more games to go on the season — and a whole lot to figure out. Curry is coming off an over two-month-long absence. He has played just two games since coming back. (Sheesh, that’s a lot of twos.)
GettyStephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors
Golden State is still waiting on Al Horford to get healthy and for Curry and the newly-acquired Kristaps Porzingis to share the court just a liiiitle more. (A lot more.)
Things haven’t progressed well so far. The biggest hurdle was obviously to get Curry back in the lineup. That’s happened, but the play-in game is five days away. In five days, the Warriors’ season could very well be over, and we’re still sitting here drawing out the litany of things they must figure out before then.
Good luck with that.
Perhaps everyone in the organization understands in their heart of hearts that it ultimately boils down to Curry. Maybe he puts on his hero cape and single-handedly drags his guys to two play-in wins and sets up a date with the defending champs in round one.
Or maybe he isn’t Superman, not this time, and the Warriors throw up their hands and simply say, “Well, it just wasn’t meant to be.”
Either one of the two is likely to happen. That’s just how this season has gone for the Dubs.
Stephen Curry’s Status Becomes Clearer for Tonight’s Game
Golden State is back at it tonight.
After last night’s thorough loss to the equally-battered Los Angeles Lakers, the Warriors aim to get back in the win column and establish some velocity entering next week’s single-elimination game.
Without Curry in the lineup, Golden State predictably struggled in crucial stretches. The team could only mount a four-point lead, while the Lakers went up by as many as 27 points. The Dubs also turned the ball over far too many times, giving L.A. 19 extra possessions.
The decision to sit Curry out was and wasn’t surprising. Head coach Steve Kerr had made it clear days earlier that Curry wouldn’t play back-to-backs, but one would think the team would choose to play the two-time MVP in Thursday’s marquee game over tonight’s contest against the Sacramento Kings.
With the Warriors also playing on Tuesday night, perhaps the decision to rest Curry was to allow him three days between games.
The good news is Curry is gearing up to play in tonight’s game against the lowly Kings, whom the Curry-led Dubs beat a few nights ago in what’ll be remembered as Sacramento’s alleged “tank” game.
Coach Kerr said before last night’s game that Curry is set to play Friday.
Golden State Badly Needs a Game With the Main Guys
The Warriors once again saw a long injury report ahead of last night’s game. They’ll hope that list will have shrunk greatly by the time player statuses are announced later today.
Kerr did mention that he hopes Friday’s game can feature a lot more of the team’s key players to help prepare for the play-in game. Right now, the Warriors are in dire need of some continuity.
“That’s the hope, that’d we have everybody available,” Kerr said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “We’ve been shooting for that but it’s been hard to get everybody healthy, obviously, at the same time.”
Kerr expressed confidence that Horford and Porzingis will be ready to go against the Kings. Even getting those two in the lineup with Curry would make for a decent dress rehearsal.
Golden State cannot move up or down in the standings, but wins and losses haven’t really mattered from that perspective in quite a while.
Right now, there are two challenges for the Warriors: health and not knowing their opponent in the first play-in game.
Let’s hope they can at least solve the first problem between now and the end of the weekend.
Adel Ahmad Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad
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