Golden State confirms Curry won’t return before playoffs

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, sidelined by a sprained ligament in his left foot, won't return to action before the playoffs, the NBA team said Friday.

In a statement posted on the team Twitter feed, the Warriors said Curry was making "good progress" in his recovery but wouldn't play again in the regular season, which concludes on April 10.

"Stephen will gradually begin individual on-court activities next week, and his eventual return to practice will be based on his continued progress," the Warriors said. "Our next update on his status will be provided on April 11."

Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters the news was not a surprise.

"We were hoping maybe he'd play one or two games at the end of the regular season," Kerr said. "But that was always a long shot."

Curry hasn't played since he was hurt in a March 16 game against the Boston Celtics, when he was rolled on by Boston's Marcus Smart as they chased a loose ball.

Curry, the NBA's all-time leader in three-point shots, was averaging 25.5 points per game and the Warriors are 1-6 since he's been sidelined.

Although players including Jordan Poole have stepped up their offensive output, no one has filled the void left by Curry.

The Warriors are currently fourth in the Western Conference and have yet to officially clinch their playoff berth, although the could find themselves in on Friday if the Minnesota Timberwolves lose to the Denver Nuggets.

Kerr said Curry remains a key contributor to the playoff push.

"You can see him during practice, pulling guys aside, talking to them," Kerr said. "He understands his value as a leader as well as an All-Star Player."

And Kerr said he has no concerns that Curry will need time to ramp up when does return.

"All it takes is one shot and he's back in rhythm," Kerr said.

Agence France-Presse

Warriors prepare for rested James Harden, Rockets in West rematch

LOS ANGELES — After outlasting the no-name Los Angeles Clippers in six games, the Golden State Warriors have a superstar on their hands next.

James Harden and the Houston Rockets in a rematch of last year’s Western Conference finals. That’s when the Rockets let a 3-2 lead slip away and saw the Warriors go on to win their second straight NBA championship.

This time the teams meet in the West semifinals beginning Sunday in Oakland.

“We know them well,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Friday night after his team finished off the Clippers with a 129-110 victory to win the best-of-seven series 4-2. “They’re going to come after you and pick-and-roll. We know they’re already in the Bay waiting for us, so it will be a quick turnaround.”

Anticipating a Warriors’ closeout, the Rockets flew to Northern California on Friday to be ready for the series opener. They’ve been resting since Wednesday, when they defeated the Utah Jazz 4-1.

The Warriors were stretched to six games for the first time in the opening round in Kerr’s five seasons.

“One of the things that can happen during the playoffs is you can sharpen your game against an opponent that forces you to do so,” Kerr said. “We had leads in some games that we lost. Every time we thought, all right, we’ve got this, we didn’t have it.”

Kevin Durant had a statement game for the Warriors, scoring 38 of his playoff career-high 50 points in the first half at Staples Center. He was 15 of 26 from the floor, made 14 of 15 free throws and hit six 3-pointers.

Durant was coming off a 45-point performance in a losing effort in Game 5.

“No matter what anybody does, he can get a good shot,” Kerr said.

Harden averaged 27.8 points in the first round against the Jazz, but he struggled at times to get going offensively. His worst effort came in Game 3 when Houston won despite him missing his first 15 shots to set an NBA record for most misses to start a playoff game.

Durant believes Harden’s game is much more than drawing fouls and getting to the line.

“He can score in a variety of ways, so we have to be locked in from the beginning,” Durant said. “You can’t fully stop a guy like that; you’ve got to be ready to play him tough all game.”

Stephen Curry finished with 24 points, the only other Warrior with at least 20 Friday. Klay Thompson had nine points. Both of them were banged up slightly in the game, but Kerr said he’s hopeful they’ll both be good to go Sunday.

Draymond Green had his fifth career playoff triple-double of 16 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists after not playing well in Game 5.

Warriors center Kevon Looney expects to see the Rockets employ some of the same defensive schemes used by the Clippers, who twice won in Oakland, including a 31-point comeback that was the biggest in NBA history.

“Defending the pick-and-roll is going to be huge,” Looney said. “The Clippers punched us in the mouth and woke us up. They showed us it’s not a cakewalk in the West. Every game is going to be hard.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Stephen Curry scores 38 to push Warriors past Timberwolves

OAKLAND, Calif. — Steve Kerr long ago ran out of superlatives to describe Stephen Curry.

The Warriors coach isn’t even trying anymore, not with the way his All-Star point guard is playing since coming back from a groin injury.


Curry had 38 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Golden State beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 116-108 on Monday night in Draymond Green’s return to the Warriors’ lineup.

Klay Thompson scored 26 points and Kevin Durant had 22 as Golden State prepared for Wednesday’s showdown with Toronto by earning its fourth straight win.

Curry went 7 for 14 from 3-point range.

“He’s good at basketball,” Kerr deadpanned. “Nothing he does surprises me. Even on a night he gets off to a slow start he finds a way.”

Curry, who recently returned after sitting out 11 games with an injured groin, got going after missing six of his first nine shots. He made a pair of 3s and scored 14 points in the third quarter, including Golden State’s final nine of the period, and then made consecutive shots from deep after the Timberwolves closed to 101-93 in the fourth.

Thompson and Durant provided plenty of support. It’s the fourth time this season that the trio has scored 20 or more points in the same game.

Curry is averaging 31.4 points in five games since coming back from the injury.

“We were trying to do a lot in the first half just because we had another playmaker out there,” Curry said. “We were playing really, really fast and excited. Just had to settle in and make the simple play. In the second half we kind of slowed down.”

Green, the 2017 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, had seven points, 10 rebounds and seven assists after being sidelined for 11 games with a right toe injury. He made his first shot, a 3-pointer, and then playfully challenged the Timberwolves to come guard him.


“I felt like a kid in the candy store the last few days,” Green said. “To come back off a layoff like that, I felt pretty good. I really had no issues at all. It’s good to get back to who we are.”

Karl Anthony-Towns had 31 points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota. Derrick Rose added 21 points.

“It’s a great team and to beat a great team you’ve got to play 48 minutes,” Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau said. “We didn’t do that.”

The Warriors led 12-0 early and got a spark from Green.

After making his 3-pointer, Green had a second bucket on a goaltending call against Gorgui Deng, and then scored on a driving layup. The excitable Green also picked up a foul for setting an illegal screen and jawed at a referee while walking down the court.

TIP-INS

Timberwolves: Robert Covington scored seven points on 2-of-7 shooting in his return after sitting out Saturday’s loss in Portland. … Rose scored 11 points in the second quarter, and then made an outstanding play to block a 3-point attempt by Jonas Jerebko near the Minnesota bench in the third. … Minnesota has lost six straight to Golden State.

Warriors: Thompson made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the first half. … Andre Iguodala did not play because of tightness in his right hip. … Curry, Durant and Thompson have each scored 20 or more points in the same game 35 times as teammates.

COUSINS GETTING CLOSE

DeMarcus Cousins practiced with the Warriors G-League team in Santa Cruz earlier in the day, and then was back on the court at Oracle to put in some extra work before the game against the Timberwolves.

There is still no timetable for Cousins’ return from a torn Achilles tendon, but the four-time All-Star center is definitely getting close.

“We want to make sure he’s really comfortable with his conditioning and movement before we put him out there,” Kerr said. “Everything has come along nicely. This is not about a doctor saying he can’t play. It’s more about when he’s ready to go out there and perform well.”

UP NEXT

Timberwolves: Play at Sacramento on Wednesday night.

Warriors: Host Toronto on Wednesday night. The Raptors beat Golden State 131-128 in overtime on Nov. 29.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Warriors clinch West, NBA’s top record

PHOENIX — The NBA regular season belongs to the Golden State Warriors – again.

The high-speed Bay Area dynamo needed 42 points from Stephen Curry to hold off the pesky Phoenix Suns 120-111 Thursday night, a victory that ensured Golden State will have the best record in the NBA for the third straight season.

“Yeah, it’s impressive,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We have had a great run.”

The Warriors won their season-best 13th straight game, all of them without the injured Kevin Durant.

Getting the top playoff seed was “a goal that we set going into the season,” Curry said, “to make sure the regular season mattered for us, to clinch that, and we did.”

With Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala resting and Durant one game away from returning from injury, the Warriors prevailed in front of a noisy crowd.

“I think our guys enjoy the position we are in. They know it is a special era that is not going to last forever,” Kerr said. “We have a special group of talented players at the same time, so we are trying to enjoy every moment.”

Curry scored 23 in the first quarter when the Warriors blew open a 41-18 lead, but the Suns rallied with a 34-17 second quarter and made a game of it from there.

“I think we got mesmerized as a team,” Kerr said. “We were so enamored with what Steph was doing that we kind of stopped playing to start the second quarter.”

Devin Booker scored 21, Tyler Ulis 20 and Jared Dudley matched his season high with 19 for the Suns, who tied a franchise record with their 13th straight loss.

Alan Williams scored 16 and grabbed a career-best 17 rebounds for Phoenix.

“We just wanted to keep the game close, give ourselves the chance,” Dudley said. “Obviously, they are a championship team and for us, we want to just keep putting our young guys in situations where they can just learn from it.”

Golden State became the first team have the NBA’s best record for three consecutive seasons since the Boston Celtics did it in 1983-84, ’84-’85 and ’85-’86. The Warriors, Boston – multiple times – and Philadelphia are the only franchises in NBA history to achieve that feat.

The Warriors also are the first team to win at least 65 games in three straight seasons.

Klay Thompson scored 22 for the Warriors, including a critical late 3-pointer.

With the Spurs’ loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, the Warriors are 65-14, 4 1/2 games ahead of San Antonio. Golden State has three games to play, San Antonio four.

The Warriors raced to that 23-point lead after one quarter, but Phoenix outscored Golden State 34-17 in the second quarter to cut it to 58-52 at the break.

Golden State led by 13 entering the fourth quarter.

But the Suns, with the worst record in the West and second-worst in the NBA, didn’t fold.

A 10-0 Phoenix run sliced Golden State’s advantage to 104-101 on Ulis’ 20-footer with 5:01 to play. Curry responded with his eighth and final 3-pointer, but the Suns twice cut it to four again – the last at 109-105 after Ulis made a pair of free throws 2:29 from the finish.

Thompson’s 3, only his second in nine tries, made it 112-107 and Phoenix never got closer than five again.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Warriors’ winning formula

In sports there are many things I did not expect to see in my lifetime.
As a college basketball player and later as a coach, I was of the belief that, apart from talent, one needed to possess a certain physique and height to be able to excel in this game.
Steph Curry, who has the physique of an Asian, has totally debunked this belief and has opened my mind to new possibilities that I could never have imagined on my own.
Please allow me to share with you today my perspective from a coach’s point of view, of what I see as some of the reasons Curry has been able to play the way he does and lead the Warriors to break the NBA record of home wins.
Whenever I watch a basketball game live or on TV, I try to coach both teams in my mind and try to guess what the coaches are trying to do.
* * *
I believe that the development of every player on the team rests on the style of the coach and how he handles his players.
Most players who have become professional coaches come from the position of having played guard during their playing days. This is true not only in America but also in the Philippines.
Given the position the guard plays, he is the one expected to control the flow of the game. In other words, he plays the role of “coach” on the court.
Now this is where it gets interesting.
Curry’s coach, Steve Kerr, was NOT a point guard during his playing days but he was an exceptional shooter who played minimal minutes with some of the best players (Michael Jordan) and coaches (Phil Jackson and Greg Popovich).
Now that Kerr is the Warriors coach, he appears to be courageous enough to change the coaching platform.
Kerr gives his players the freedom to use their imaginations freely and maximize their athletic ability to the fullest.
* * *
It is very rare to see a center that rebounds and is also allowed to bring the ball down as a point guard. This formula goes contrary to all the recipes written in the coaching books, but Kerr allows this.
In my opinion, apart from Curry’s talent and hard work, his rising popularity and the success of his team could very well be attributed to the radical change in the coaching philosophy of Kerr and his assistant, Luke Walton.
Though it may be difficult to change the style of the coaches in the PBA because their beliefs in what they are already doing are so strong, our college coaches can get inspiration and new ideas from watching the Warriors play.
I feel that the formula Kerr is using is so enjoyable to watch. It is like a breath of fresh air. He has shown how a collaborative method between coach and player could very well be the new way to develop the player, the team and the game of basketball further.

source: sports.inquirer.net