NBA scores 2015: Without Stephen Curry, the Warriors face mortality

Curry sat as Golden State fell to 29-2 against the Mavericks, helping the NBA’s best team realized how much they need him.

by Tim Cato

Dec 31, 2015, 1:00 PM UTC

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

DALLAS -- Stephen Curry silently packed up his things in an overcrowded visitor's locker room at the American Airlines Center. If he was frustrated, it didn't show -- maybe he pulled a security tag off his Chewbacca backpack a little too aggressively, but that was it.

As the Warriors lost their second game of the season, falling to 29-2, Curry was confined to the bench, sitting out with a bruised left leg. Although it's not serious, Golden State showed how lost they are without him in the 114-91 shellacking to Dallas, who led by double digits for the entire second half.

"It's 30 points out of the lineup," Draymond Green said of Curry's absence. "And it's really more than that, when you consider the assists and the attention that has to be paid to him when he's on the floor."

There's other injuries for the Warriors that factor in: Harrison Barnes, Festus Ezeli and Leandro Barbosa all missed the game, as well, leaving only 10 healthy players. All three of those players are important cogs to the Golden State machine and they could have been more competitive had they played. But the fact remains that the Warriors are now 1-6 when Curry sits over the past two seasons. We already knew everything about the Warriors begins with Curry's presence. Perhaps we underestimated how much of it ends when he's off the floor.

"(Curry's) one of the rare players in this league where it affects the entire game just by being on the court," Warriors interim coach Luke Walton said. "We run our offense because we know that. We have spacing and we have role players that complement each other nicely. Obviously, without him out there, the spacing won't be as good. The drags that we like doing so much are affected. Everything we do gets affected by a player like that."

This isn’t all on Golden State or Curry’s absence. Dallas hit 51 percent from the field and 52 percent from behind the arc, taking advantage of a lackluster Warriors defense but also simply hitting shots. The Warriors had the opposite end, missing more looks than they should have, even as the court geometry changed in Curry’s absence.

"We had great looks but it was just one of those nights," said Klay Thompson, who finished with 10 points on 4-of-15 shooting. "That happens over 82 games so there's no need to panic."

Still, with another game against the Rockets looming tomorrow and Curry's status still questionable, the Warriors face an identity crisis: how do you replace the most irreplaceable player in the league? And even if Curry returns in Houston, what do you do if he, Lord forbid, goes down for a longer stretch of games?

“We can’t just lose games because he’s out,” Green said. “We don’t have to recreate our whole offense, but some things definitely change.”

And the biggest change is that without Curry, they’ve lost their invincibility.

2 more things from Wednesday

Kobe Bryant wins his final trip to Boston

The Celtics treated Kobe with all the respect he deserved in his last appearance at the TD Garden, presenting him with presents and cheering his final pregame introduction. They booed him when he touched the ball once the game started, as is their tradition, but even Boston couldn't resist chanting his name as Bryant led the Lakers to a victory, chanting his name like he was their beloved hometown star. What a moment.

Jimmy Butler clowned Paul George all night

You could argue (probably accurately) that there were some missed calls, but Butler led Chicago to an overtime victory that included a game-tying bucket in regulation, the game-winning shot in overtime and a game-saving block as time expired. George fell victim to all three, which is just cruel. But hey, if this leads to any sort of rivalry between two of the East’s best teams, we’re all winners. Like Butler’s final tip in to put Chicago ahead.