The Golden State Warriors are in for a rough time in the next couple of games (at the very least) as they look to navigate their second-round matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves without Stephen Curry, who will be out for at least one week due to the hamstring injury he sustained in Game 1. Curry has been the central force powering the Warriors’ offense for a long time, and without him in Game 2, they looked toast, suffering a 117-93 loss that had head coach Steve Kerr play his entire active roster just to search for a combination that would work.While all the players on the Warriors roster are worthy of a spot in the NBA, having the likes of Pat Spencer, Kevin Knox, and Braxton Key log non-garbage time minutes in a playoff game is, to put it nicely, suboptimal.
“All players in the NBA can play. Everybody’s a good player. But what percentage of players can you give the ball and say, ‘Go get me a shot. Get me a good shot.’ You go get a shot every time or you go get fouled?” Barkley said on TNT’s Inside the NBA following the Warriors’ Game 2 loss.
With Curry out, the Warriors are in desperate need of an offensive punch. They’ve already been finding it difficult to score even with Curry out there during their series against the Houston Rockets, so one can only imagine just how little the eye of the needle they have to thread is to get a bucket without him.
Kerr, who has made it clear in recent weeks that he’s not a big fan of the Jonathan Kuminga-Jimmy Butler lineup combination, has even had to resort to playing Kuminga heavy minutes just to generate some scoring.
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The Warriors better be praying with all their heart to the basketball gods that Curry has a miraculous recovery from a hamstring injury.
Warriors’ role players are being tested to their limits
One Warriors role player who is wilting under the pressure is Moses Moody. After finishing the 2024-25 season as a legitimate high-level rotation player, Moody’s drop-off has been sudden. Not only has he been missing his shots, he’s been missing them rather badly, clanking it loudly off the rim or drawing air entirely. He went 0-5 from the field on Thursday night.
In Game 2, it was Trayce Jackson-Davis who made his case for more minutes moving forward. Lacking the perimeter gravity that Stephen Curry brings, Jackson-Davis at least provides them with a lob threat. His involvement in Game 2 limited Kevon Looney to just three minutes.
