Golden State’s injury mix

Golden State beat Sacramento 110-105 on Tuesday night even though its lineup looked like a patchwork quilt an hour before tipoff. Stephen Curry was still on a minutes limit after missing 27 straight games, Kristaps Porzingis was listed as questionable, and Golden State already had Gui Santos, Quinten Post, and Al Horford out. (espn.com) (nba.com) (talkbasket.net) That kind of injury report changes the whole shape of a game. When a team loses size, depth, and one of its main shot-creators at full strength, it usually has to trade isolation basketball for quick passing and open threes. (official.nba.com) (talkbasket.net) Golden State did exactly that. The Warriors finished with 27 assists and 17 made three-pointers, while Sacramento had 22 assists and 11 threes, which is a clean picture of how Golden State created enough offense without a normal rotation. (thescore.com) (espn.com) The scoring load shifted away from a single star and toward the supporting cast. De’Anthony Melton scored 21 points, Brandin Podziemski added 20, and Charles Bassey chipped in 14 points and 12 rebounds. (nba.com) (espn.com) (thescore.com) Curry still bent the game even in 25 minutes off the bench. He scored 17 points, hit two four-point plays, tied the game at 104 with 2:38 left, and then set up Podziemski for the go-ahead three on the next possession. (espn.com) That is the part injuries do not erase. A limited Curry still pulls defenders toward him like a magnet pulls paper clips, and that extra attention opens the floor for teammates who normally get lower-pressure looks. (espn.com) (nba.com) The backdrop here is that Curry had only just returned on April 5 after a two-month absence caused by a right knee injury. In that first game back against Houston, he played 26 minutes, scored 29 points, and came off the bench for the first time in a regular-season game since March 7, 2012. (nba.com) Golden State was also still waiting on its frontcourt reinforcements. The Warriors said on April 4 that Horford had missed 11 games with a strained right soleus and was progressing through on-court work, while Post was being re-evaluated after missing time with right foot soreness. (nba.com) So the win over Sacramento was less about overpowering anyone and more about surviving with the pieces available that night. Golden State used its 40th different starting lineup of the season after Will Richard was a late scratch, which shows how unsettled the rotation still was even before the opening tip. (espn.com) Sacramento helped make the game scrappy by arriving with its own depleted roster. The Kings were missing Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray, Drew Eubanks, De’Andre Hunter, and Russell Westbrook, while DeMar DeRozan was listed as questionable before the game. (talkbasket.net) Even with that context, Golden State still had to close the door. The Kings tied the game in the fourth quarter after trailing since the second, but the Warriors answered with Curry’s tying three and Podziemski’s go-ahead shot to snap a four-game losing streak. (foxsports.com) (espn.com) (nba.com) The result left Golden State at 37-42 and still sitting in the Western Conference play-in picture with only a few games left. On a night when the injury report was longer than the reliable rotation, the Warriors won by moving the ball, trusting secondary scorers, and squeezing just enough late-game gravity out of Curry. (espn.com 1) (espn.com 2)