{"id":8712426,"date":"2023-01-11T09:31:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T17:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8712426&preview=true&preview_id=8712426"},"modified":"2023-01-11T11:52:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T19:52:44","slug":"kurtenbach-steph-curry-is-back-now-its-time-for-the-warriors-to-get-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2023\/01\/11\/kurtenbach-steph-curry-is-back-now-its-time-for-the-warriors-to-get-to-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Kurtenbach: Steph Curry is back. Now it’s time for the Warriors to get to work"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Warriors didn’t play particularly well when Steph Curry was in the lineup this season, so why on Earth would anyone think the Dubs would hit the ground running when he returned from an 11-game absence on Tuesday?<\/p>\n

After all, Curry is anything but plug-and-play \u2014 his style changes everything the Warriors (and their opponents) do on the court.<\/p>\n

Tuesday was Andrew Wiggins’ second game back in the lineup after a month’s absence, too. The Warriors were also graced by the season debut of Andre Iguodala.<\/p>\n

There were a lot of moving parts.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully, we’ll get everybody on the same page,” Curry said.<\/p>\n

And sure enough, the Warriors and Curry struggled for the first three quarters of the final game of the team’s eight-game homestand.<\/p>\n

But that fourth quarter of the Warriors’ 125-113 loss<\/a> to the Suns was something to behold.<\/p>\n

That fourth quarter is something to build upon.<\/p>\n\n

In a game the Dubs trailed by as many as 27 points, Golden State cut Phoenix’s margin to six points in the final moments of the contest. They made the Suns sweat down the stretch. They were playing good basketball on both ends of the floor, and Curry scored 16 points in the frame, with Jordan Poole adding 13.<\/p>\n

So forget the team’s three-game losing streak. The Warriors have some momentum heading into the team’s five-game road trip.<\/p>\n

And no, that’s not trying to reshape a loss into a “moral victory.”<\/p>\n

The Warriors head into this road trip in a better situation than anyone (or, at the very least, I) foresaw. The Dubs won more games than they lost with Curry out of the lineup (6-5) and jumped up in the Western Conference standings in the process. At the halfway point of the season, Golden State is one game back of the No. 6 seed, a true playoff spot, and 2.5 games back of home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

And simply looking at the teams above them in the standings, it’s hard to imagine the Warriors, with all their talent, not continuing to rise.<\/p>\n

I’ll concede the Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Pelicans \u2014 the West’s top three teams. But are Sacramento, Dallas, the Clippers, and the Suns better than the Warriors?<\/p>\n

I have a hard time buying that.<\/p>\n

The firepower on the Dubs is too much.<\/p>\n

We know the importance of Curry. The value of Wiggins is understood.<\/p>\n

But the re-introduction of Iguodala on Tuesday was eye-opening.<\/p>\n

Who knew what he would be able to give the Dubs? I’ll admit that I thought he was only on this team for moral support.<\/p>\n

But whatever the Dubs’ training staff was doing with him for the first few months of the season worked.<\/p>\n