Fresh off winning the NBA Finals last year, the Golden State Warriors haven’t been able to find the same consistency to begin the 2022-23 season. But most would agree Stephen Curry hasn’t been the issue. He’s once again an MVP candidate.
After starting 3-7, the Warriors had turned improved their fortunes as of late, clawing their way back to .500 heading into their Wednesday night matchup against the Indiana Pacers.
Once again, Curry was in his bag, scoring 38 points on just 19 shots, hitting 5-of-10 from distance. This was just through parts of three quarters, with the superstar point guard finishing with just 30 minutes played.
Near the end of the third quarter, Curry reached in to swipe the ball away from Pacers forward Jalen Smith, who was in the process of going up for the score.
The driving force behind Smith’s ascent seemed to have injured Curry’s shoulder as the two-time MVP quickly reached for his left shoulder and grimaced in pain.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr quickly called a timeout so his two-time scoring champ could be attended to on the sideline.
Curry did not return to the game and is set to get an MRI on Thursday.
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Potential impact of Stephen Curry injury
Curry, who had been questionable coming into the matchup with a knee injury, has long been the driving force behind Golden State’s success. He’s proven to be durable over time, playing 127 games during the past two seasons.
Yet, in 2019 when Curry was limited to just five games, we saw the Warriors hit a brick wall, as one might expect when an eight-time All-NBA player misses an entire season. Without Curry, the Warriors went 15-50, finishing dead last in the Western Conference.
While that was a different roster, and Klay Thompson also missed the entire season, it can’t be understated just how big of an impact Curry has on his team.
Replacing players who average north of 29 PPG while shooting a ridiculous 43% from distance just can’t be done. With Curry, defenses have to cover every spot on the floor. Without him? Nobody even wants to think about that again. Not yet.
We should find out more about the severity of Curry’s shoulder injury on Thursday following the results of the MRI.
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