Yahoo Finance Injured Warriors star Stephen Curry still helping team from bench
Stephen Curry’s impact on the Golden State Warriors is very limited right now as he works to recover from a broken hand. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t helping just by being on the bench during games and hanging around the team.
The Warriors are 4-0 since Curry started coming to home games, the longest active winning streak in the Western Conference. They upset the Houston Rockets on Christmas Day and came from behind to beat the Phoenix Suns on Saturday at Chase Center — and Curry was totally hyped during it.
Here he is celebrating a Glenn Robinson putback dunk in the fourth quarter:
Steph Curry is plus-30 without even touching the floor pic.twitter.com/5NpbdtCgWE
— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) December 28, 2019
Curry was also seen actively coaching the younger Warriors from the sideline:
Steph Curry coaching on the sideline
A true leader pic.twitter.com/SJuhRnxJSN— Chris Montano (@gswchris) December 28, 2019
It isn’t entirely laughable to suggest that Curry is making a difference despite wearing suits during games. Assistant coach Bruce Fraser relayed a story to the San Francisco Chronicle in which Curry noted something the Rockets were doing:
In the six years they’ve worked together, Fraser has come to consider Curry a basketball savant. That belief was only reinforced when, with pen and notebook in hand, Fraser jotted down Curry’s latest pointer: “The Rockets are switching on high pick-and-rolls. If you have Willie (Cauley-Stein) fake the screen and sprint toward the rim, he should be open.”
Fraser immediately relayed Curry’s observation to head coach Steve Kerr, who made the adjustment. Less than a minute later, Cauley-Stein appeared to go in for a screen, only to bail on it at the last moment, race hard toward the basket, catch a pass from point guard D’Angelo Russell and throw down a dunk.
‘He talks to everybody’
Curry also makes an effort to act like just another teammate despite his superstar status. Warriors forward Marquese Chriss told reporters this week that it’s strange for him to have such a high-profile teammate as Curry be this humble:
“He talks to everybody. It’s weird for me. Somebody being so good you expect them to have an ego, but he talks to everybody like they’re on the same level as him.”
Marquese Chriss on Stephen Curry 💯 pic.twitter.com/pogNmfLKgR— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) December 26, 2019
The Warriors are 9-24 this season, a rebuilding campaign given injuries to Curry and Klay Thompson and the youth that is on the floor. Curry isn’t expected to return until the spring, if at all. But the mere sight of him being on the bench has to be a morale booster and the tips he offers can only help an inexperienced team.
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