The Golden State Warriors are free-falling in the NBA standings, and there seems to be no easy answers available to them in their ongoing quest to bust out of this slump. Heading into their Christmas Day game against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Warriors have gone 3-9 over their last 12 games, falling out of the top six in the Western Conference. Thus, Stephen Curry knew how important winning that game was, and to his credit, he showed out on Christmas Day.
Alas, Curry's heroics weren't enough as the Warriors suffered a 115-113 loss at the hands of the Lakers courtesy of a game-winner from Austin Reaves. After the game, Trayce Jackson-Davis revealed the message that the 36-year-old star imparted the team with in the midst of what could be a season-defining stretch for the team.
“This can go one way or the other,” Curry said as recalled by Jackson-Davis, via Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
Indeed, the game between the Warriors and the Lakers was a barnburner that could have gone either way. Golden State, however, was on the back foot for most of the night, and Steve Kerr said in the past that playing catch-up all the time is exhausting, even for the very best teams in the association.
It's too bad that Curry's late-game flurry did not result in a victory; with the Warriors down by nine with only 1:30 left in the game, Curry rescued them by scoring all of their final eight points in the contest. The Lakers won the game thanks to an easy layup from Reaves after he blew by Andrew Wiggins rather easily.
The Warriors are now 15-14 on the season and now sit in 10th place in the West standings — a precipitous fall from where they were to start the season.
Warriors to give Stephen Curry some rest days?
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Stephen Curry is no longer a spring chicken, and even he has acknowledged on multiple occasions that he feels as though the end of his Hall of Fame career is near. And the Golden State Warriors recognize this as well, especially amid Curry's ongoing battle with some knee troubles.
In fact, Curry said in his Christmas Day postgame presser that the Warriors could end up giving him a rest day in their upcoming back-to-back set on Friday and Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns, respectively.
“When the knee stuff popped up, (selective rest) was part of the conversation,” Curry said, via Slater.