How good are Warriors without Curry?

Despite playing two straight games without the injured Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors lead the First-Round of the Western Conference 2-1 against the Houston Rockets.

With or without Curry in the team, the Warriors have won games this season. However that wasn’t the case on Thursday night as the Rockets shocked the champions, taking Game 3.

Curry missed two straight playoff games for the first time in his career, and it remains to be seen how the Warriors will react if the layoff is extended.

The reigning MVP sat out Games 2 and 3 because of a sprained right ankle sustained in Game 1.

But prior to Game 3, Curry said he was ready to play while the team wanted him at 100 percent, which was not the case.

The Warriors played three games without Curry during the regular season — two of them in back-to-back road games in Texas. The Warriors lost 114-91 to Dallas on 30 December, and then beat the Rockets 114-110 in Houston the following day.

"Without having done anything for four days, no conditioning, no rhythm, no actual live contact, it would have been irresponsible, I think, to put him out there," Warriors head coach Steven Kerr said after the 97-96 loss in Houston.

James Harden stole the show, making a mid-range jumper with 2.7 seconds remaining to give Houston a lifeline home win.

Without Curry, Klay Thompson - the team’s second-leading scorer, missed all seven of his 3-point attempts in Game 3. He's now 5 for 21 from beyond the arc in this series, after shooting just 30.4 percent from 3-point range against Houston in the regular season.

Meanwhile, Warriors centre Andrew Bogut dismissed Curry’s absence: "But it doesn't mean that it's something that can't be done or is beyond us. We've won before when we've been missing one of us, even Steph."

The most frequently asked question at the moment is whether or not the Warriors can defend their title or, how good are the Warriors without Curry?

And the answer to that question is that they can reach the Conference Finals without Curry, but maybe not much else because of the Warriors’ fiercest opponents San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and the Los Angels Clippers who look desperate to make a noise in the playoffs.

After all, Curry has rewritten the modern NBA history, and his league-best 30 points per contest this season as well as a record-setting 402 three-points made in a single season, say everything about his impact.

The Warriors are great, but obviously without Curry they are not as exciting.

One thing is certain, though, the players’ health will play a major part in the outcome of the 2015-16 NBA season.

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