San Francisco -Stephen Curry exited late in the third quarter with a pelvic contusion and did not return. Despite being without their star point guard, the Warriors held on to defeat the Toronto Raptors 117-114, closing out their homestand with a strong 6-1 record before embarking on a two-week road trip.
Curry exited the game with 3:24 remaining in the third quarter after taking a hard fall under the basket. He got up slowly, grimacing in pain, and walked off the court while holding his lower back. After the game, he underwent an MRI, which confirmed a pelvic contusion. He did not return to the game.
“I think the message is going to be whether he’s with us or whether he’s not,” said Jimmy Butler. “Hopefully, he is, but if he isn’t, that’s just more perfect basketball that we’re going to have to play. We can’t afford to turn the ball over; we can’t afford to foul because we don’t have the one individual who can automatically get us back into the game. We want the guy; we want our guy with us.”
Butler III recorded his third triple-double of the season and has now accomplished the feat twice in the last six games. He dished out a season-high 12 assists (previously 10 on 3/18 vs. MIL) and recorded his fourth game of the season with 10-plus rebounds (second as a Warrior).
Butler has tallied six or more assists in his last six games, averaging 8.7 assists per contest over that span. The Warriors have improved to 16-2 when he is in the lineup.
He also became just the fourth player in franchise history to record at least 10 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals, and two blocks in a single game since blocks and steals were first recorded in 1973-74. He joins Kevin Durant (once), Draymond Green (nine times), and Chris Mullin (once) in achieving this milestone. The Warriors remain undefeated at 12-0 in such games.
Draymond Green delivered another captivating performance, finishing with 21 points, 4 steals, and 7 rebounds. He knocked down five threes, proving a serious threat from beyond the arc. Could he be the next Splash Brother? When Green hits the first three to start the game, as in the last three outings, he typically makes a significant impact from deep.
Green recorded his third 20-plus point game of the season and has been the team’s leading scorer in two of the last five games. He matched his season high with five made three-pointers (previously on 12/15 vs. DAL) on a career-high 14 attempts from beyond the arc (previous high: 13 on 12/6/14 at CHI). Over his last three games, he has totaled nine steals.
Despite the Warriors’ three-point barrage, their defense struggled, and as a team, they totaled 38 rebounds. Toronto stayed within reach, cutting the deficit to 74-70 in the third quarter. The Raptors kept their momentum, eventually pulling within one. Golden State faltered with missed shots while Toronto dominated the paint, taking a 77-76 lead. Curry responded with a layup inside, but as soon as Green checked back in, he immediately grabbed a steal. Butler then found Buddy Hield for a three, putting the Warriors back on top, 93-92, to close the quarter.
Brandin Podziemski is averaging 16.0 points on 50.0% shooting from the field and 50.0% from three-point range while dishing out 5.0 assists in his two games since returning from injury.
Quinten Post hit a season-high six three-pointers (previously five on 1/23 vs. CHI), falling just one shy of the franchise’s rookie record for threes in a single game (seven, set by Stephen Curry on 2/10/10 vs. LAC).
“Should’ve been 7-0, to be honest,” Post said. “Right now, we just go into every game expecting to win. The Denver game was, I wouldn’t say, a fluke because we did it to ourselves, we played a really bad game all around the board. But we bounce back. Tonight was a really scrappy team; we kinda went into it knowing that it was gonna be a game like this. They played really hard, they made it really hard on us to get stops, but we stayed poised, and we got the W.”
The Warriors finished their seven-game homestand with a 6-1 record, tying the best mark for a seven-game homestand in franchise history (achieved five times). Golden State has now won 16 of its last 19 games.
Up Next: The Warriors travel to Atlanta to face the Hawks on Saturday, March 22 (4 p.m. PDT), in the first game of a six-game road trip.
Photo by GSW/X
