Warriors lose Curry, and their 3-point stroke, in Celtics mauling

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

After seeing the trio of Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry finally share the court after 1,000-plus days Monday, just one game later Chase Center saw Curry limp off the court in the second quarter and never return Wednesday.

Without their leader, the Warriors (47-23) fell to the Boston Celtics 110-88.

Even before Marcus Smart dove onto the floor and rolled up on Curry’s ankle, the Celtics (42-28) were in control of the game.

The Boston defense stifled the Warriors motion offense, making it tough for them to create any separation.

It didn’t help that Golden State were horrendously bad from 3-point range.

Klay Thompson was 1-of-11, Otto Porter Jr. who drew the start in place of Andrew Wiggins was 1-of-6, their entire bench was a combined 2-of-14, even Curry was just 1-of-4 before his injury.

Steve Kerr said Boston’s length and athleticism really bothered the team:

There’s a reason they are number one in the league in defensive efficiency. They’re athletic, they’re physical. We did miss some open ones but I think when you play a team that’s that physical and long, the open ones you get aren’t as comfortable because you feel their defense.”

The lone bright spot was Jordan Poole, who after scoring just two points in the first half, kept the Warriors in the game for the most part with 27 second half points.

Poole took over as the lead creator once Curry went down and he didn’t disappoint, as he was seemingly involved in every Warriors basket when he was on the court.

Kerr said he was proud of the way his guard played after the game:

For him to really get going, get into a rhythm, attacking, I thought he played a hell of a game, particularly in the second half to keep us in it.”

Poole navigated screens for open 3’s, hitting six in the game, which is one more than the rest the team made combined.

He used his tight handle to drive inside and hit a variety of layups and floaters. And whenever he penetrated and didn’t have an open look, he was finding open teammates.

The problem was his teammates couldn’t hit anything.

Even with all that went wrong, Poole dragged this team to within nine in the fourth quarter before two back-to-back defensive breakdowns from Porter Jr. led to two back-breaking 3’s from Payton Pritchard to gave the Celtics enough breathing room to comfortably cruise to the finish.

Kerr praised the team for fighting through to the end:

Anytime you play a team that is that physical and that athletic you have to play with pace. I thought in the first half we were walking the ball up the floor too often and the third quarter the pace was much better and as a result we got better looks and we started to knock some shots down.”

The result is much less important than Curry’s health status.

The team is terming the injury “left foot soreness” as opposed to an ankle injury. Replays looked like Curry avoided any roll of the ankle thanks to his ankle brace, but his foot took all the torque.

Add the former MVP to a long list of injuries for the Warriors as he joins, Andre Iguodala, Gary Payton II and James Wiseman, along with Nemanja Bjelica and Andrew Wiggins who missed Wednesday’s contest.

Oh, and Moses Moody, who left Wednesday night after grabbing his shoulder on a collision.

It’s getting crowded there, but hopefully Curry won’t be joining them for long.

After waiting so long to see their three pillars on the court again, Warriors fans will have to wait a bit longer to see them again.

It’s been that way all season, first the tease when Thompson came back and Green had to exit, now the same with Curry.

But all that really matters now is that the three of them play together when it matters most—in the playoffs.

Up Next

Three full days of rest await the Warriors before they take on the San Antonio Spurs (27-43) Sunday, which is good because they need it after Wednesday night. The bad news, though, is that after Sunday’s game they embark on a five-game road trip.

Curtis Uemura is SFBay’s Golden State Warriors beat writer. Follow @SFBay and @CUemura on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of Warriors basketball.