The Golden State Warriors got their butts kicked on Thursday night by the Oklahoma City Thunder, losing 128-109 at home to run their losing streak to five games, and put them under .500 for the first time since suffering a dramatic opening night loss to the Phoenix Suns.
While no losses are good, the Warriors were underdogs against the Thunder, since they were missing arguably their two best players: two-time MVP Steph Curry and four-time All-Star Draymond Green.
Curry was missing his second straight game after suffering a knee sprain over the weekend, while Green was serving the first game of a five-game suspension for putting Rudy Gobert in a rear-naked choke.
As a reward for getting blown out, the Warriors get to … uhh … rematch the Thunder on Saturday night. And they’re hoping that they can change their fate a little bit this time around. The easiest way to do that would be in the form of reinforcements, and there’s a chance that those are on the way.
Golden State announced on Friday that Curry had been upgraded to questionable for Saturday’s game, which is at 5:30 p.m. PT at Chase Center.
Curry’s return would be huge. Not only is he the face of the franchise, but he’s been the only Warrior to pose any semblance of a scoring threat this season. Steph’s 30.7 points per game are not only second in the NBA (behind only Joel Embiid), but they’re well over double that of the next-closest Warrior, as Klay Thompson’s 13.8 points per game are second on the team. Curry has eclipsed the 20-point mark in every game he’s played in this year, while the rest of the team has only done it four times, and none by regular starters: it’s been done twice by Dario Šarić, and once each by Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski.
While Golden State might get one guard back, they’re losing another. Gary Payton II, who left Thursday’s loss early and went back to the locker room, has already been ruled out due to a foot strain. Heal up, GPII!