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Howdy, folks. Welcome back to Layup Lines. It’s Sykes, once again, here to usher you into the weekend.
The Warriors are in some real trouble right now after Steph Curry injured his shoulder late in the game against the Indiana Pacers. Luckily, Curry won’t need surgery. He’ll be out for a few weeks, but it’s not something that will sideline him for the long term.
Still, the Warriors are in some peril here. Not only did the team fall back below .500 again, but it also lost the engine that makes the entire operation go. The Dubs are a -11.1 when Curry is off the court. He was a legitimate MVP candidate and arguably the best player in the league this season.
Meanwhile, they’ve yet to catch their stride this season and are putrid on the road with a 2-13 record. Things won’t get any easier anytime soon for the Dubs. They have four straight road games coming up through December 21 against the 76ers, the Raptors, the Knicks and the Nets. Then they return home for Christmas day against the Grizzlies. That’s a pretty tough 5. This stretch could determine the shape of their season.
Luckily for the Warriors, the NBA is jam-packed with a bunch of good-to-average teams and most of them are in the West. The Grizzlies are the No. 1 seed in the conference now and they’re fantastic. But the 13th-place Oklahoma City Thunder are just 8 games back of 1st.
Should the Warriors slip during this Steph-less stretch, it isn’t the end of the world. There’s still a chance they can go on a run and get right back into the thick of things.
But that’s not a situation anyone wants to be in. Especially considering how essential having homecourt advantage can be in the playoffs and how putrid the Warriors have looked on the road.
That’s why their title defense isn’t starting when May rolls around — it’s starting right now.
The Tip-Off
Some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
Somebody may have figured out the Boston Celtics’ secret sauce for this season. Well, actually. They didn’t figure it out. It was essentially just found on the internet.
A fan found a Quizlet page with Joe Mazulla’s scouting reports for the Celtics. The homie Bryan Kalbrosky has more.
“Twitter user @groovyk8 said she was using Quizlet to prepare for a Suns game at Footprint Center. She believes that she may have unexpectedly uncovered the Quizlet account of Celtics interim head coach Joe Mazzulla.”
The scouting reports have been deleted, of course. But someone over on Reddit archived each of them and they’re unbelievably detailed.
Kalbrosky logged all of them in the story above. Go see what the Celtics think of your favorite player. Kyle Kuzma was the only Wizard who made the list and his file finished with “he is not passing.” And, yeah, that tracks.
This game isn’t one that’s going to stick out on anybody’s radar. The Celtics at home against the Magic should be a pretty clean blowout — at least on the surface.
But the Magic have won four straight games and are one of the hottest team’s in the East. Plus, they’ve got Bol Bol who is playing absolutely insane basketball right now. Robert Williams is returning for Boston and they’ll have to integrate him. I don’t think he’ll get off to the quickest start.
The Celtics will win, for sure. But will they beat the Magic by 13 points? I don’t think so. Give me Orlando +12.5.
Shootaround
— WNBA Championship futures are here, y’all. The Aces are somehow being shorted here.
—Speaking of the W, Brittney Griner plans on playing next year. Good on her, man.
— Were the Grizzlies being disrespectful to the Bucks by doing the wave? I don’t know. But this is hilarious.
— Here’s a quick trade primer for the rest of the season.
Enjoy the weekend.
