While the Golden State Warriors cruised through game 4 against the Houston Rockets without Stephen Curry playing in the second half, meme makers were focused on his knee injury and not how well they played.
Curry sprained his knee while slipping midcourt just before the halftime buzzer, immediately realizing he was hurt bad and limped his way to the locker room, never returning. He didn’t play in games 2 & 3 because of his ankle, and while physically he looked fine in his first half of basketball since game 1 of the series, the Warriors were much better without him, as he scored just 6 points on 2-for-9 from the field.
Without him? Instead of the Rockets getting some kind of mental boost from the window of opportunity opening up and their very good basketball in the first half, they completely collapsed. The Warriors scored 41 points in the third quarter, winning the second half 65-38. The Warriors aren’t a better team without Curry, but they were better despite his absence for one night at least.
Now it’s all about the MRI, and seeing how bad the injury is. While the Warriors are still a very good team without him, losing the best player in the NBA this season and the best three point shooter the league has ever seen is surely a severe dent to their title defense ambitions, and also something of a kindling hope for the San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers.
