Steph Curry is listed as questionable for game 2 against the Houston Rockets after tweaking his ankle during the 1st half of Game 1. Like any other big time player would, Curry is pushing to play and it has been agreed that as long as it can’t get any worse, he will be on that court come tonight. However, the Golden State Warriors still have to prepare as if Steph will not be on the floor. He did not practice Sunday due to receiving treatment from the Warriors’ training staff and Coach Kerr stated that Shaun Livingston will start in his place if he cannot play come game time. One thing that they can keep in mind is that they did beat this Houston Rockets squad without the former MVP on December 31 in Houston, but as we all know, the playoffs is a completely different ball game. But its well understood from the players and coaches of Golden State that other guys will have to step up to fill that void.
“It kind of changes things. We don’t seem to be as good of a coaching staff when Steph goes out – I don’t know why,” Kerr joked after practice. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can play. I think Steph missed three or four games this year. We did fine. Obviously we’ve got to find different ways to score. We’ll prepare for that and see what happens.”
Marreese Speights also chimed on playing without Curry:
“We’re prepared. We’re going to continue to play. We’re ready to step in,” said power forward Marreese Speights, who scored 12 points in 15 minutes off the bench Saturday. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can play and will impact the game. We know Steph, when his 30 points are taken off the board – or really 60 points with all the stuff he’s doing on the court, playing defense, passing the ball, helping, controlling the offense – but we’ll be all right.”
Similar to the game on December 31st, Klay Thompson is going to turn into the guy. He led all players with 38 points while Draymond Green added a triple double with 10 points, 16 assists, and 11 rebounds. A group effort is going to be important to take down this Houston Rockets team but this is where big minutes from guys like Harrison Barnes, Andre Igoudala, and Leandro Barbosa become even more important. The Golden State Warriors have the capability to beat this Houston team without Curry but it’s going to take a big showing from everyone because you do not want to give this Houston team any type of confidence.
