It’s been a long, turbulent way back to the wooden floors of the Chase Center tinted in gold and maple for the premiere Splash Brother Stephen Curry, whom we all regard as perhaps the most dangerous shooter to ever align their fingers within the black seams of a basketball. It’s been a culmination of 58 games, and a multitude of nights not suiting up for his Warriors, though the rehabbing process of mending his broken left hand finally sees its end tonight at 10:30 p.m. on TNT, when the reigning NBA champs in the Toronto Raptors visit the Chase Center for the first time in franchise history to play the talent-deficient Warriors.
Tonight’s game seems like a foregone conclusion, that in essence makes no sense to even document considering Golden State’s legacy of misfortunate events dating back to last year’s Finals loss, sidelining of Curry’s sidekick Klay Thompson with his Torn ACL, and the departure of Kevin Durant to the Brooklyn Nets. Toronto is the second seed in the East and is looking to get a winning streak going during their Western road trip in an “easy” game against Golden State, who is 14-48 on the year.
And here we are in the new normal: that domineering Dubs team that scoffed at any opposition in the past five years and won three championships in the tail-end of the 2010s is now at the bottom of the food chain, peering with open pupils at June’s Draft Lottery and the inevitability of a rebuild that’ll likely keep them out of the playoff picture for the first time since 2013, or at least until next year when they’ll be at full strength with Thompson and Steph sharing the same backcourt.
The two-time MVP and three-time champ will undergo a minutes restriction, as it has been since October 30 that Curry has taken to a basketball court.
And after requiring two surgeries on that injured left hand due to Aron Baynes landing on it a night before Halloween, after spending this year as an understudy of Coach Kerr and a confidant to those attempting to stay on the team for future seasons, after a brief stint in the G-League with Santa Cruz, answering media inquiries about his complacency and security in a trying year and just being the appealing, relatable enigma that he’s been since being that 6’3 180-lb-soaking wet kid drafted out of little Davidson, expect Curry to track around 24-28 minutes tonight with “short bursts of 4-6 minutes” to get Steph’s feet wet, explained by Dubs head coach Steve Kerr just hours ago.
In an interview with ESPN’s Warriors correspondent Nick Freidell, Curry says he is “excited” to play after four months of rehab. In the four contests he’s participated in this season, Curry has averaged 20.3 points, 6.5 assists, and 5.0 rebounds.
But in all honesty, by the time you’ve finished reading this article, Steph probably drilled around 50+ shots and a couple of 40-foot deep balls during his fifth pre-game drill session of the season, because he’s Stephen Curry, and he’s extraordinary, right?
“I think I can play a lot more than that just based on the work that I’ve put in, but you gotta be smart about it in that sense,” he said during the interview. “And you also have to feel the game, too. Obviously, I want to be out there when it matters: finishing quarters, finishing the game and being available in that respect.”
The air inside of the Chase Center tonight will take more of a relieved color, not in the optimism of this lost season suddenly turning around, but because of the love for watching what Steph Curry does, and in the high-level that he does it. We don’t know if there will be some mental hurdle worth paying attention to come tip-off time, and if Curry will portray that apprehensive tone when driving and dashing through the lane, as memories of lightning striking twice and the probability of re-injury coming into play.
He knows that a new normal of some slight nerve damage impacting his ability to affect the outcome of an NBA contest, although he doesn’t exactly expect it to bother him in any way, repeatedly going over how his “new normal” will feel in a game.
“I have confidence in what I need to do with the ball in my hands and with my shot, and being able to take a hit on it and all that type of stuff,” Curry said. “And I just want to get to a point where I don’t think about it on the floor, and hopefully that comes back pretty quick.”
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