The Golden State Warriors have been at an awkward standby with the injuries to Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry. Thursday marked a new beginning for the franchise, as head coach Steve Kerr noted “it's on again,” vowing to turn the level of play up a notch with a championship-caliber player returning from injury.
Curry returned from a four-month absence on Thursday night after missing 58 games with a broken left hand. The Warriors star looked spry in his return, putting up 23 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists in 27 minutes. Kerr is now ready to ramp things up:
“To me, it feels like it's on again,” said Kerr, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell. “We're now through the woods, as I said before the game. We can start looking ahead and using these games to prepare ourselves for trying to reach a higher level of play.”
“I do think there will be a sense of energy and enthusiasm the rest of the season,” Kerr said before the game. “Because to me, this is sort of the beginning of next season in a lot of ways; and I think we're all starting to get some clarity as far as what our team's gonna look like. And having Steph back is, obviously, a huge, huge part of that now. The next step will be getting Klay back, but that won't be till next season. But I think these last 20 games are really going to be a springboard into next year, so I think that energy will be high and remain high.”
The Warriors coach was right, as the state-of-the-art Chase Center roared similarly to how “Roaracle” Arena used to in its heyday. Curry was cheered through every touch of the ball and even received chants of “MVP” during his trips to the foul line.
Curry's return not only gives the Warriors a puncher's chance in the remaining 19 games of their season, but also greatly increases the expectation to develop championship-level habits the rest of the way.
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