Golden State Warriors

What happens to the Golden State Warriors without Steph Curry?

Published Apr. 25, 2016 2:35 p.m. ET

foxsports

On Sunday, potential disaster struck for Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors after the reigning MVP slipped on a wet spot on the final play of the first half of the team's Game 4 win over the Houston Rockets.

Warriors' Stephen Curry limps off at halftime of Game 4 vs. Rockets following awkward fall pic.twitter.com/sOmcve3t4r
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 24, 2016

With a team statement Monday that Curry will be "re-evaluated in two weeks" after an MRI revealed a "Grade 1 MCL sprain in his right knee," it looks like Golden State will be without their star for the remainder of their first round series and a potential second round as well.

It’s always easy to hyperbolize big-picture aftereffects whenever a team loses their best player, but it doesn’t take a quantum physicist to grasp that the Warriors are in big trouble if Curry is sidelined for an extended period of time.

For the second year in a row, Curry is the most valuable player in the NBA. His outside shot creates a Poltergeist-level vortex that defenses are years away from solving.

During the regular season, the Golden State Warriors outscored their opponents by an ungodly 18.3 points per 100 possessions with Curry on the floor. When he sat, they struggled to put the ball in the basket and defend, and were eclipsed by 3.7 points per 100 possessions.

His impact is obviously hugely positive, but can the Warriors sustain their excellence in his absence? The numbers above suggest the answer is no. But Curry spends a majority of floor time surrounded by Golden State’s best supporting players—Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, etc.—which doesn't tell us how effective they can be on their own.

Try this stat on for size: Whenever the Warriors had Curry and Green on the floor at the same time during the regular season, their net rating was an unstoppable plus-20.1, per NBA.com. But when Curry played without Green by his side, Golden State only outscored its opposition by 1.0 point per 100 possessions. One point!

What does this mean, potentially? Curry is tremendous and more valuable to this team than anyone else in the league is to theirs, but the Warriors roster is filled with talented stars who can assume larger roles if he’s out for the foreseeable future.

The most recent piece of evidence came in the second half of Sunday’s game, when the Curry-less Warriors exploded all over the Houston Rockets, outscoring them 65-38 in the final two quarters.

Green and Thompson combined for 25 points on an efficient 9-of-14 shooting, and Golden State got big minutes from Leandro Barbosa and Shaun Livingston, too.

During the regular season, Green and Thompson played 297 minutes together without Curry on the court. The Warriors' offensive rating during that time wasn’t on the same level as it is when the best shooter who ever lived graces them with his presence, but it was still a very good 109.7 points per 100 possessions (nice enough to rank third overall).

Defensively, Curry is more than reliable on the ball. He jumps in passing lanes at opportune times and has tremendously quick hands (his 2.1 steals per game led the league this season). But the Warriors should be fine on that end of the floor without him.

They still have an abundance of heady, above-average individual defenders, and nothing about their switch-happy scheme needs to change.

Moving forward, eliminating the Rockets shouldn’t be a problem, and they still have home-court advantage through the Finals. But can Golden State take down a locked-in Los Angeles Clippers squad in Round 2 if Curry doesn’t play? It’s...possible, sure. But they certainly wouldn’t be favorites, and Chris Paul wouldn’t need to exert the level of defensive energy he would have against a healthy Curry—which allows him to attack with more freedom on the other end.

The Warriors arguably wouldn’t have the two best players in that series, depending on how well you think Blake Griffin stacks up against Green.

Beyond that, the Warriors would have no shot against the San Antonio Spurs or Cleveland Cavaliers. They weren’t built to take down rival juggernauts in a string of seven-game series without their sharpest weapon.

No team ever is.