On-Air Now
On-Air Now
Listen Live from the Casino Matrix Studio

Three thoughts after Stephen Curry’s enthralling return overshadows slim Warriors loss to Raptors

By

Jacob Hutchinson

/

© Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Stephen Curry returned. He didn’t lead the Warriors to a win, but he did something that might be an ever greater feat: he made them entertaining. It was a 121-113 loss, but the only thing from Thursday that matters is that Curry is back, and by most accounts, seems to be close to his same old self.

Genuine, entertaining basketball, courtesy of the standard bearer

This season has, by and large, been a long, painful slog. Heaps of injuries, and unhealthy doses of sloppy, youth-dominated basketball meant far too many games which were far from close. Even the Warriors’ 116-100 stunner over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday was a rough watch. When watching a bunch of fresh-out-of-the-box names stumble to poor results, it’s hard to get overly excited on a consistent basis.

To be clear, there have been exciting moments. Eric Paschall’s rookie season has been a revelation. Damion Lee finally got his long-deserved guaranteed deal and has proved himself as a solid wing option off the bench. Jordan Poole’s J.R. Smith impression and constant game of feast or famine has certainly provided some opportunities for humor and surprising excellence. And Marquese Chriss has provided a level of rim-running athleticism that hasn’t been seen since JaVale McGee.

But for a team that made the last five NBA Finals, that’s, uh… not much to get excited about.

Long-term, this season may well be remembered as what reignited the dwindling flame of the Warriors’ dynasty. A much-needed sabbatical, providing reprieve and an opportunity for Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to lick their wounds and for Golden State to stockpile young assets while avoiding the vaunted repeater tax.

That’s all swell. It’s brilliant and one of those very rare opportunities that just falls into the lap of a franchise and it’s playing out according to plan for Golden State. But at some point, you need a reason to get exceed.

And damn if Curry didn’t provide that on Thursday.

For whatever deficiencies were on display (Norman Powell, his main defensive matchup, had 23 first-half points), Curry was beguiling from the outset. The Warriors, with Curry, were, are, fun again.

And for all the rightful questions there were about his left hand, he assertively, immediately answered them. I mean, this behind-the-back pass was what he opened with.

He wasn’t exactly domineering from that point on, evident from the fact that he started 1-for-4 from three, and his second three made him 2-for-7. But his dribble penetration, drawing the defense in, and passing the ball like a dart set up so many opportunities that simply have not existed for the Warriors this season.

There was an absurd, off-balance, weird-angled, buzzer-beating three, which seemed to be as prototypically ridiculous as you could expect from Curry. Then, he got even more ridiculous with this four-point play.

He finished with 23 points on 6-of-16 shooting (3-of-12 from 3-pt, 8-of-8 from FT), 7 rebounds, 7 assists and just one turnover. DAmi

Even with Curry, Warriors still painfully young

Jordan Poole, Dragan Bender and Mychal Mulder made it very tough for the Warriors to win this game. Mulder’s 2-of-7 (and 1-of-6 from 3-pt) with no real positives elsewhere was a consistent detriment.

Poole was just bad in every facet. He couldn’t shoot, threw it away three times, and provided nothing defensively.

Bender seemed to be trying, and made a few nice passes, had a handful of key defensive possessions, but was clearly a net negative. His hands in the post are unreliable, his spacing via his three-point shooting doesn’t exactly exist, and he’s not fleet of foot or that athletic, so his rebounding presence wasn’t overly helpful.

Juan Toscano-Anderson was his usual energetic self, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and had a triplet of assists without turning it over. Marquese Chriss (17 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, a steal), Andrew Wiggins (21 points on 9-of-20 shooting, 3-of-9 from 3-pt, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 turnovers, a block), Damion Lee (23 points on 8-of-17 shooting, 5-of-12 from 3-pt, with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers) and Eric Paschall (16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 turnovers) kept the Warriors in the game.

But it was that sloppiness, that youthful “Woah, we’re in this game, let’s really try and win” energy that turned positivity into chaos. The Warriors were able to tread water for awhile without Curry in the game, but the cause of their 14-48 record entering the contest was on display for all to see.

Curry made everyone better immediately, but there was a clear cap on how much, in limited minutes, he could impact the game, especially against a Toronto Raptors team that, at 43-18, is fighting to hold onto the second seed in the Eastern Conference… and 37 points from Norman Powell (and a bunch of key missed free throws down the stretch) didn’t exactly help their cause.

Chase Center clearly has capacity to create own identity

There have been more than a handful of times when the volume in Chase Center has risen to a din. Each game still feels odd, given the sparkling brand-newness, almost sanitized nature of it. But they did get the acoustics right, that much is clear.

And when Curry started to inspire some life in the Chase Center crowd, inspiring late surge after the contest seemed almost out of reach, you could feel the potential, visualize the potential playoff atmosphere. The “WAAAARRIORS!” chants started to rein down on the court, and for a moment, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that this was 14-win team fighting to win a two-point game, trailing 115-113 with less than a minute remaining.

It’s clear that this is not the season in which those iconic moments will take place, but that this building is both capable of hosting and inevitably will host those moments.

Newsletter
Advertise with us