How far can the Warriors go without Curry? Can they beat Portland or Los Angeles? Can they win the Western Conference? Can they win a championship without Curry? There is a simple answer to that question that I will answer with another question. Could the Chicago Bulls win their six championships with Jordan being out or hurt? No. The question is able to be answered because Jordan retired and played baseball and the Bulls did not win a title until he came back.
The Warriors are a great team with or without Curry but great teams don’t always win a title. The Warriors did a great job finishing off the Houston Rockets but that was the worst team in the playoffs. They will get a few days of rest as the Trailblazers and Clippers have to finish their series.
Even though Curry got hurt, the Warriors caught a break when Chris Paul and Blake Griffin went down with injuries because this Warriors team would not beat a completely healthy Clippers team. They can however beat a full strength Trailblazers team. The Blazers are a good young team but they can not match the Warriors ball movement and depth in a seven game series even without Curry.
The Warriors will advance to the Western Conference Finals and meet either the San Antonio Spurs or Oklahoma City Thunder. The least likely opponent would be the Thunder. If they were to play the Thunder they would struggle to match up against Westbrook. He would be able to dominate both sides of the ball. I don’t think the Warriors are good enough without Curry to advance past the Thunder.
The same goes for the possible matchup against the Spurs. The Warriors are good but not good enough. The Spurs are dominant on the defensive side and without Curry the Warriors would struggle to create open looks against the Spurs. The Spurs are just as good offensively as they are defensively. They won 67 games for a reason and the Warriors without Curry would be no match for the Spurs.
Without Curry the Warriors are still a competitive playoff team but not a title contender. He is going to win the MVP for the second straight year and was the scoring champion. He means so much to the Warriors and without him they cannot defend their title. If Curry is unable to return and fight with his team there will be a new NBA champion.
