Every day in the NBA there is a lot to unpack, so every weekday morning throughout the season we will give you the three things you need to know from the last 24 hours in the NBA.
1) Stephen Curry rolls ankle, will miss a couple of games, Warriors roll on to beat Spurs anyway. Stephen Curry’s ankles have been an issue this season — he sprained one back on Dec. 4 and missed much of that month getting healthy. Now that concern is back — though not as severe.
Curry rolled his ankle after landing and taking a step on a contested layup less than three minutes into Thursday night’s game against the Warriors.
This is not as severe as the December injury, but he’s going to miss time. Curry did not get on the plane postgame with the Warriors to fly up to Portland for Friday night’s contest, nor will he join the team in Minnesota for a weekend game against the Timberwolves. With the playoffs looming, the Warriors are going to be cautious bringing him back, that said, he’s not expected to miss an extended period of time.
Back in December when he was out, the Warriors tightened up their defense, Kevin Durant took over on offense, and Golden State won seven in a row.
That model played out again Thursday. Durant scored 15 of his 37 points in the final 6:30 of the fourth quarter — including 14 straight.
However, the game really changed when coach Steve Kerr assigned Draymond Green to cover LaMarcus Aldridge — he had 28 points through the first 38 minutes of the game, but his only points after the defensive switch were two free throws with 3.1 seconds play. The Warriors got the win 110-107 — their seventh in a row.
Golden State remains just half-a-game back of the Rockets for the best record in the NBA heading into a tough one Friday vs. the Trail Blazers (winners of eight in a row, and sitting at home rested for this one).
The Spurs have now lost 9-of-12 and while technically the five seed in the West they are tied with the Thunder and Timberwolves in that spot, just two games ahead of falling out of the playoffs entirely. The Spurs’ next two games are at Oklahoma City and at Houston, and they have 10-of-12 against teams currently in the playoffs coming up. It’s strange to say this, but the Spurs are in a battle for their playoff lives.
2) Boston’s Jaylen Brown okay after nasty fall. You can tell how scary this was by how quiet the Target Center in Minnesota instantly got after Jaylen Brown’s fall from the rim following a third-quarter dunk.
Brown did not return to the game after that but Tweeted this after.
Appreciate everybody I'm ok .. Got a headache tho 🤕 good team win !!
— Jaylen Brown (@FCHWPO) March 9, 2018
He was on the team plane back to Boston, and the Celtics said he would be monitored for concussion symptoms — the headache (and that dazed look after he landed) suggests he may have one. Which is not good, he will miss time with it, but considering how he landed on his head/neck things could have been much worse.
3) Kyrie Irving returns, leads Celtics past Timberwolves without Brown in fourth. Brown’s nasty fall put a cloud over the fourth quarter for Boston, but by that point the Celtics had a relatively comfortable lead that they never surrendered on their way to a 117-109 victory.
This was not a game with much defense from either side, but Boston had the better offense on the night with the return of Kyrie Irving from injury to lead the Celtics with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, plus eight assists and seven rebounds.
Boston’s Al Horford had 20 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and their most important player on the night may well have been Marcus Morris with his 17 points off the bench.
Minnesota, searching for consistency without Jimmy Butler and fighting to make sure they stay in the playoffs (the Wolves are just two games ahead of the 9/10 seed Nuggets and Jazz), got a big night from Nemanja Bjelica with 30 points on 16 shots, plus 12 rebounds. Karl-Anthony Towns had a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds — but his 12 shots were tied for fourth on the team with Jeff Teague, this is one of the best offensive big men in the game and he’s got to get more touches and shots. Andrew Wiggins had played well since Butler’s injury, until Thursday — with Terry Rozier hounding him for stretches, Wiggins shot 6-of-21 overall including 1-of-8 from deep. He was missing from all over the court, and on open shots at that — Wiggins was 3-of-13 on uncontested looks (via NBA.com).
Minnesota is in a fight to stay in the playoffs the rest of the way, and with Butler out the team needs to defend better and play to its strengths more.
