ORLANDO — Normally, Stephen Curry plays with joy. Following the Warriors’ 103-96 loss to the Orlando Magic on Thursday, though, Curry felt nothing but frustration.
“Steph’s in there; he’s beating himself up a little bit,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr as he motioned his head toward the locker room. “He knows he had a lot of open shots tonight that didn’t go.”
The Warriors played without two key playmakers Kevin Durant (rest) and Andre Iguodala (illness), the latest sign of a championship-tested team showing more priority in maximizing health than collecting padding win totals in February. For a while, though, it appeared the Warriors could simply put their trust in Curry. After all, the Warriors had cemented a 21-game winning streak beforehand in games Curry played while Durant sat.
Instead, the Warriors (43-19) lost their third game in the past five games as Curry finished with 33 points albeit on 12-of-33 shooting. After scoring 11 third-quarter points, Curry made only one fourth-quarter shot on six attempts.
“Every shot I take, I feel like it’s going in,” Curry said. “It is frustrating when you have decent looks to keep the lead going and they don’t go in.”
The Warriors (43-19) dropped at least temporarily to second place in the Western Conference standings behind the Denver Nuggets (42-18). After winning three NBA championships in the past four years, however, the Warriors are mindful that rarely does anything significant happen in regular-season games in February.
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Hence, Curry chuckled and simply said “no” when asked if the Warriors’ recent struggles concerned him. He could not say the same thing about his play.
This game did not necessarily offer a case study on what life might be like for the Warriors should Durant bolt this summer as a free agent. One, the Warriors also missed Iguodala, who had an unspecified illness sometime after Friday’s loss to Miami. Two, the Warriors have struggled since the All-Star break even with Durant in the lineup. Three, DeMarcus Cousins presumably will be gone next summer, his 21 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth consecutive double double the latest sign he will likely command more interest than a one-year, $5.3 million taxpayer midlevel exception.
Still the Warriors’ thin depth prompted Curry to play “extremely aggressive.” Klay Thompson added 21 points on 9-of-23 shooting, but the Warriors lacked much outside of Curry, Thompson and Cousins. Alfonzo McKinnie had four points on 2-of-7 shooting as Durant’s replacement in the starting lineup. The Warriors’ bench combined for 12 points.
After holding the Magic to a season-best 11 points in the third quarter, the Warriors still conceded 52 points in the paint and 20-fast break points. The Warriors’ poor shooting (a collective 39-of-97; 9-of-20 from deep) and poor ball movement (16 assists) compelled Curry to place too much burden on himself.
“Be yourself. Don’t make it too complicated,” Thompson said of playing without Durant and Iguodala. “We have plenty of talent to win ball games even with the guys out. We tried to put it all on Steph, which is hard. Teams gear up for us.”
DeMarcus Cousins showed some mixed progress
A few snapshots captured both Cousins’ ongoing progress and struggles.
The positive: Cousins attacked the rim with more consistency. On one second-quarter play, Cousins forced a turnover, ran the break and finished at the basket. He appears more comfortable playing through contact.
“I’m finding my rhythm and picking my spots and when to be aggressive,” Cousins said. “It was a good opportunity for me to finish at the rim.”
The negatives: Cousins went 0-of-4 from 3. After shooting 46.2 percent from distance in five games in January, Cousins has shot only 20.7 percent from 3 in seven games in February.
“It’ll drop eventually. Me and baby girl ain’t on the same page right now,” Cousins joked. “We’ll figure things out.”
Cousins also struggled to figure things out when he closed out the game. With Iguodala out, Kerr said he determined the closeout line this way: “just find the right combination and try to win the game.”
Though Kerr called second-year forward Jordan Bell “fantastic” for scoring six points on 3-of-3 shooting and eight rebounds in 13 minutes, Kerr chose Cousins for the final 2:49 with Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green and Jonas Jerebko.
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Then, the Warriors held a 94-90 lead. But then Cousins committed a turnover, missed a seven-foot hook shot, collected a foul and missed a 26-foot 3. Magic center Nikola Vucevic also scored over Cousins in the post and on a putback. In fairness, Curry (0-of-1) and Thompson (0-of-2) both went cold during that stretch. Add it all up, though, and the Magic closed out that stretch with a 13-2 run.
“Lot of silly mistakes down the stretch,” Cousins said. “Didn’t finish out some plays, a couple of missed rebounds and missed shots. Lots of missed opportunities. It’s on us down the stretch.”
Will Cousins ever play in consecutive back-to-backs?
Cousins returned against Orlando after sitting against Miami on Wednesday because of what the team called “load management/Achilles recovery.” Kerr said that Dr. Rick Celebrini, the Warriors’ director of sports medicine and performance, has not determined if Cousins will sit in any part of the team’s last three back-to-backs. That includes a road back-to-back in San Antonio (March 18) and Minnesota (March 19), a home back-to-back against Dallas (March 23) and Detroit (March 24) and another road back-to-back in New Orleans (April 9) and Memphis (April 10).
Will Cousins push to play?
“I would believe that’s the plan eventually,” Cousins said. “I’m listening to the training staff and what they feel is best for me moving forward.”
Kevon Looney and Jordan Bell have reversed their identities
The Warriors normally find Kevon Looney to be dependable and Bell to be unpredictable. Recently, though, Looney and Bell have switched positions.
In one game as the starting center and another as a reserve, Looney has gone scoreless in the past two games on a combined two missed shots. Meanwhile, Bell followed up a 10-point performance on 6-of-10 shooting and six rebounds against Miami with six points on 3-fo-3 shooting and eight rebounds against Orlando.
Small sample size, for sure. As the playoffs approach, though, these small snapshots could provide clarity on who will stay in the rotation.
Warriors are not fretting about their recent struggles
The laughs told the whole story. Curry, Thompson and Cousins all chuckled when pressed about their level of concern on the state of the team.
“Could be much worse,” Thompson said.
Still, the Warriors have steeper test against possible playoff opponents this week in Philadelphia (Saturday) and a two-game home stand against Boston (Tuesday) and Houston (Friday).
“It gets harder every year,” Kerr said. “But we’re still in a great position and put ourselves in a good spot.”
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