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The Golden State Warriors deflating loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday put the team in a precarious position. A loss on Thursday night would send them spiraling into the All-Star break on a three-game losing streak, with a brutal post-break triumvirate awaiting them next week: the Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz, and Los Angeles Lakers.
So it was perhaps a touch surprising for some fans when coach Steve Kerr took a reasoned, big picture view of the team Wednesday night, and declared that Thursday’s contest against the scorching hot Phoenix Suns didn’t feel like a must-win.
Steve Kerr on if tomorrow's game feels like a must-win: "No, to be perfectly blunt." says it's a "brutal back-to-back" but "we've got a lot of basketball ahead"
— Brady Klopfer (@BradyKlopferNBA) March 4, 2021
He wasn’t bluffing. It turns out that neither Steph Curry nor Draymond Green traveled with the team to Phoenix on Wednesday night. Curry is getting a day of rest to prolong the length of his break, since he’ll be busy over the weekend playing in the All-Star Game and competing in the three-point contest. And Green will get to rest the ankle that he sprained during Sunday’s loss to the Lakers.
Sources: Draymond Green and Steph Curry will not play against the Suns tonight. Neither made the trip to Phoenix. Rest for Curry, recovery day for Green’s sore ankle ahead of All-Star break.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 4, 2021
It will be just the second game all year that Curry has missed, as he also sat out a contest against the Charlotte Hornets due to illness. Green will be missing his sixth game, after sitting out the first four of the year while recovering from the coronavirus, and being sidelined due to ankle soreness against the Miami Heat a few weeks ago.
Hopefully both players can rest up this week. And maybe the underdog Dubs can pull off a stunner. We’ve seen wilder things.