The Golden State Warriors will have a tough task at hand on Friday: to win a road game without Kevin Durant at the Toyota Center against the Houston Rockets and avoid making a trip back to Oracle Arena for a Game 7 to settle the score.
While daunting, Stephen Curry doesn't feel an extra burden on himself after the loss of Durant for the rest of this series, but has rather honed in that same focus to come out prepared against a Rockets team that is out for blood.
“We're coming in swinging tonight,” said Curry, who has struggled through most of this series. “Play aggressive, play confident, do what we do. At the end of the day the pressure is pretty much the same: we got to defend at a high level, take care of the basketball. Every possession we try to search for the best shot and we should be in good shape.
Steph Curry and to what extent he puts the burden on himself without KD pic.twitter.com/2tohPbReTq
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) May 10, 2019
The Warriors will have to find a way to replace Durant's vacant spot in the Hamptons 5 lineup with another capable player, though there is none that could match his all-around contributions at both ends of the floor.
Durant led the team in scoring throughout this postseason, but even so, Curry isn't feeling any added pressure due to his absence.
Article Continues Below“I always feel [the pressure] like that no matter what the situation is,” said Curry. “That might manifest itself in different ways. You gotta go out and shoot 30 or 40 times, or just playing aggressive and doing what you need to do to help your team win. No matter what the situation is, just coming in with the right mindset — I know I gotta play well, I gotta be aggressive. I'd like to shoot the ball better. All those type of things, but confidence stays the same. I just play my game.
“I didn't wake up today with extra weight on my shoulders on anything. I feel like that every single day.”
Most would think that the pressure has now shifted to the Rockets, forced to prove that they can indeed beat the Warriors like they claimed they could have done without Chris Paul missing the last two games of the series.
As fate would have it, the Warriors didn't lose their second-best, but their best player in this playoff run — and now is put-up-or-shut-up time for the Rockets.
However, there is a never-fading pressure that comes with being the defending champion and the all-around favorite to win the title — that pressure can't be any bigger for the Warriors — whether Durant is playing or not.