Golden State Warriors star point guard Stephen Curry broke his left hand after a hard fall in the second half of Wednesday’s 121-110 loss against the Phoenix Suns and he will miss over three months. The NBA odds at major sportsbooks were adjusted to reflect this and at press time the Warriors are at +5000 to win the NBA Championship.
Curry’s injury happened when he collided with Suns center Aron Baynes and braced himself with his left hand, taking the worst part of the fall. The initial diagnosis was a broken second metacarpal in his left hand and the Warriors then provided the following injury update on dNovember 1:
“Stephen Curry Injury Update – 11/1
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who suffered a broken left hand/second metacarpal with 8:31 remaining in the third quarter of Wednesday’s game against the Phoenix Suns, underwent successful surgery this morning at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles. The surgery was performed by Dr. Steven Shin. A six-time NBA All-Star and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, Curry is expected to make a full recovery and an update on his status will be provided in three (3) months.”
Warriors Lose First Two Games Without Curry (as of November 4)
Curry scored nine points and shot just 3-for-11 from the field and 1-for-7 from 3-point range with four turnovers in 21 minutes against the Suns and he is averaging 20.3 points and 6.6 assists while shooting 47.6 percent from the field and 43.5 percent from 3-point range in 28.0 minutes over four games.
With the loss against the Suns the Warriors fell to 1-3 and they dropped their first game without Curry 127-110 at home against the Spurs last Friday. D’Angelo Russell scored a season-high 30 points and Jordan Poole added 20 points but the Spurs outrebounded the Warriors 52-39 and LaMarcus Aldridge and Patty Mills were too much to handle.
The Warriors then lost another home game, 93-87 against the Hornets last Saturday, falling to 1-5 on the season, including 0-4 at home (as of November 4). Playing without D’Angelo Russell (right ankle sprain) and Draymond Green (sprained left finger), the Warriors just couldn’t keep up with a young, hungry Hornets team that has played much better than anyone expected.
Rookie Eric Paschall stepped up once again, leading the way with a career-high 25 points to go along with four rebounds after scoring 20 points against the Suns and Ky Bowman and Glenn Robinson III added 13 points apiece.
This is what Paschall had to say about Curry’s injury: “Of course it hurts knowing that Steph Curry’s down. That’s a very, very valuable piece of our team but I feel like we’re going to stay positive.”
Paschall’s idea is good but is hard to be positive if you are the Warriors or a fan. The team lost three superstars in a period of six games: Kevin Durant in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Klay Thompson in Game 6 and Stephen Curry after playing just four games this season and the Western Conference is loaded, making the playoffs was going to be hard, even with Curry.
D’Angelo Russell, the team’s second-leading scorer with 19.0 points per game, has to step up and carry the Warriors now that Curry will miss a significant period of time but this is just his first year with them. The Warriors need a lot more from veterans like Draymond Green and Kevon Looney.
Green is a former All-Star but he is averaging just 9.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 28.8 minutes over five games and is looking more and more like he is overrated. To me Green thrived in recent years because of the stacked teams that the Warriors had, I hope he proves me wrong but I’ve never seen him as a superstar in this league.
Looney underwent advanced testing for the neuropathic condition in his right hamstring and he will be out indefinitely. He had three points and nine rebounds in 10 minutes on October 24 against the Clippers and he hasn’t played since, which is concerning because the Warriors expected a lot from him this season, especially after his performance in last year’s playoffs.
