SAN FRANCISCO – This one is going to sting. In more ways than one. And maybe for longer than the Warriors would like.
The sight of Stephen Curry limping off the Chase Center court on a tender right ankle in the fourth quarter of a 125-122 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night brings a screeching halt, at least for now, to Golden State’s express toward the playoffs.
It’s too soon to know the severity of the tweak. It’s not too soon to wonder if the Warriors, even with their depth, have the firepower to weather Curry’s absence for any period.
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“I don’t know yet,” coach Steve Kerr said. “He’s got his foot in a bucket of ice right now. I haven’t talked to the training staff yet.”
Even with Curry still in his most uneven stretch of the season – he was 5-of-18 in 28 minutes before exiting – the Warriors needed this game. That they came so close to getting it only makes the result that much more devastating.
Jonathan Kuminga will relive in agony the moment he bit on a pump fake by renowned pump-fake artist DeMar DeRozan that resulted in a 3-point play that gave Chicago a 121-119 lead with 26 seconds remaining.
Golden State Warriors
“Give them credit,” Kerr said. “DeMar made that and-1 shot in the closing few minutes. We’ve got to tighten up defensively and execute better. But he made the shot. Give him credit.”
Draymond Green’s triple-double (11 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds) went for naught. He’ll quickly forget it.
Brandin Podziemski will be haunted by the missed layup that would have tied the game 20 seconds later.
This was, frankly, a game in which the Warriors had to hope they wouldn’t even need Curry in the fourth quarter.
This was the second night of a back-to-back set for both teams, but the Bulls had a late-night flight from Salt Lake City. The Warriors are four weeks into a stirring stretch run and have been living above .500 for three solid weeks, whereas the Bulls haven’t been over .500 at any point this season.
But the defense that lifted the Warriors out of sheer mediocrity drifted out of Chase Center sometime in the second quarter, sending them down the path of a defeat that leaves a deep wound.
Chicago cooked Golden State for 38 points in the second quarter and 36 more in the third, shooting 60.4 percent to pile up those 74 points, which allowed them to take a 10-point lead into the fourth.
“Just didn’t feel like we were pressuring the ball, rotating quickly,” Kerr said. “It just felt like we never impacted them. They got into their stuff. We had occasional good possessions, but it never felt like we had a stretch where we locked them down for a few minutes, where we could make a run.”
The defense reappeared in the fourth quarter, holding the Bulls to seven field goals while forcing six turnovers and turning them into 10 points. That reignited the passions of the sellout crowd (18,064) and even allowed the Warriors to briefly overtake the Bulls.
But that 3-point lead (114-111, with 3:35 remaining) wasn’t enough to hold off the Bulls. The earlier damage was, in the end, too much to overcome.
“It’s great experience for all of our young guys,” Kerr said. “JK and BP were in the pick-and-roll exchange, so it’s good for them to feel this. Moses (Moody), too, to feel these big situations. I’ve got no problem with our effort. We just got outplayed.”
This was a bad loss for a team with high aspirations. It’ll be appreciably worse if Curry is forced to the sideline, even if only for one game.