Written by Andrew Lynch at FoxSports.com
The Golden State Warriors celebrated the return of Stephen Curry by playing like the Philadelphia 76ers.
That was the case to start Game 4 against the Portland Trail Blazers, anyway. The Warriors looked as if they knew their savior was waiting to come in off the bench, so they spotted the Blazers a 16-2 lead. And it wasn’t like Golden State was just missing shots; Draymond Green & Co. were an awful, disjointed mess over the first six minutes.
Then Curry checked in, to a chorus of trumpets and hallelujahs, for the first time since spraining his right MCL. Everything was back to normal for the defending champions; basketball gods be praised.
Only the reigning MVP didn’t look anything like himself, not at first. He was tentative on offense, and coach Steve Kerr hid Curry on Allen Crabbe on defense, rather than have him defend the streaking Damian Lillard or his backcourt mate, C.J. McCollum. It was a smart move; until the Warriors knew how healthy Curry really was, there was no need to test him too much.
It backfired. With Curry playing out of position defensively, Golden State gave up a number of easy baskets as they scrambled to figure out who belonged where. The Blazers capitalized on the confusion by running Curry through screen after screen, which affected him on the other end. He hesitated to go to the rim, and he failed to move with purpose as Golden State tried to free him up off the ball. The Warriors were on their way to a second consecutive loss for the first time in 2015-16, regular season or playoffs.
An outburst by Shaun Livingston saved the day. The backup point guard drew the ire of official Scott Foster and got tossed, forcing Kerr’s hand. Perhaps Curry would have started the second half anyway after testing his knee and finding he was okay; without Livingston, there was no question about it.
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