Playing without Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors aren’t asking for a miracle with just more than a month remaining in the regular season.
The Warriors enter Saturday night’s road matchup with the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder in eighth place in the Western Conference.
The Warriors have gone 5-7 during this stretch without Curry, who hasn’t played since Jan. 30 as he recovers from a knee injury.
“For us, just got to stay afloat,” Draymond Green said. “Nobody’s expecting us to go on a 10-game win streak, but you just got to stay afloat. You can’t let things go too far south and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Golden State is coming off a 115-113 overtime victory in Houston on Thursday in a game where the Warriors had just 10 active players.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said it was “probably as beaten up a team as I’ve ever been around in my 12 years with the Warriors.”
In Thursday’s loss, Golden State was not only without Curry but also Kristaps Porzingis (illness), Moses Moody (wrist), Gary Payton II (ankle) and Will Richard (ankle).
Porzingis traveled with the Warriors on this trip and is listed as questionable for Saturday. Porzingis has missed the last six games and has played just once since being acquired by the Warriors in early February.
Moody remains out, but Payton is probable and Richard is questionable.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault expects fight from Golden State regardless of which players are available.
“I think there’s something to guys that expect to win the game that they play,” Daigneault said. “That’s what I’d say about Green and (Al) Horford. … When those guys line up and lace them up, they expect to win and are disappointed when they don’t. That’s a contagious thing.”
The Thunder are on a four-game winning streak and have won seven of eight since the All-Star break. Oklahoma City is coming off a 103-100 road win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday.
Saturday’s game marks the beginning of a four-game homestand for the Thunder. The stretch is far from easy, though, as Oklahoma City will play Denver, Boston and Minnesota to close out the homestand.
“We’re looking forward to this stretch,” Daigneault said. “It’s obviously really high-level opponents in all these games that will really test us and give us a good look.”
Oklahoma City’s Isaiah Hartenstein (calf contusion) and Alex Caruso (hip contusion) left Wednesday’s game with injuries, and both have been ruled out for Saturday. But the Thunder have been able to stay atop the West even though they have rarely fielded their full rotation.
Chet Holmgren has been a big piece of that success and has come up big against the Warriors this season, shooting 75.9% in three games against Golden State — all wins. He’s averaging 19.7 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in those wins.
“I just tell him, ‘You’re an elite player. You’re elite on both sides of the court. If you cut your offense out and make you a trash offensive player, you’re still elite because of your defense,” teammate Jaylin Williams said. “‘If you’re not elite on defense, you’re still elite on offense.'”
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has scored 20 or more points in 124 consecutive games, two shy of Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA-record 126.
–Field Level Media
