SAN FRANCISCO – When Steph Curry is raining 3-pointers, shimmying after impossible shots and smiling while breaking defenses, it is easy to forget that the Golden State Warriors guard is 38 years old.
His struggles against the Nikola Jokic-less Nuggets — scoring 20 points on 6-21 from the field with seven turnovers — in Monday night’s 114-105 loss at Chase Center showed his basketball mortality.
After Curry scored an average of 28.6 points during the Warriors’ torrid stretch that had seen them win 14 of 16 since trading for Jimmy Butler, the Warriors’ longtime coach said his superstar needs a break.
“He’s exhausted right now, so we’ve got to absolutely consider giving him a night and getting him rejuvenated for the sake of him and the remainder of our games,” Steve Kerr said.
Kerr said resting Curry, whose was listed pregame as questionable with a back injury he sustained the week before, against Milwaukee on Tuesday could be in the cards.
Curry insisted he felt fine, adding, “I didn’t play great at all, so everybody, including coach, is going to try to find to figure out why.”
But he also said that he is keeping an eye on his ailing back.
“I’ll see how that responds tomorrow, but otherwise, I feel pretty solid,” Curry said.
Butler, who scored a team-high 23 points, blamed himself for Curry’s status.
“I’m not going to say he’s wearing down, but it’s OK to be tired,” Butler said. “That’s on myself and that’s on us as a unit to pick up the slack for him. Everybody wants to think that he is superhuman, and he’s not. He is our leader, and we must protect him at all times.”
Golden State Warriors’ Jimmy Butler (10) dribbles against Denver Nuggets’ Vlatko Čančar (31) in the first quarter at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, March 17, 2025. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Curry has played an average of 33 minutes in 21 starts since his last game off on Jan. 28.
How does the 35-year-old Butler plan on lightening the load the Warriors have placed on Curry?
“Make sure we don’t turn the ball over, for one,” Butler said. “Make sure we get a good shot on goal and execute … I think that’s my job more than anybody’s, and maybe Dray’s, and (it makes) his job a lot easier.”
The sixth-seeded Warriors (39-29) wasted an opportunity to make up ground on 44-25 Denver, the Western Conference’s third seed and Golden State’s opponent should the season have ended on Monday night.
Curry wasn’t the only player who looked fatigued as a Nuggets team that was missing both its MVP candidate and star guard Jamal Murray forced 20 turnovers.
It was the most turnovers the team had in a game since the Warriors gave the ball away 22 times against the Kings on Jan. 5.
Draymond Green, who committed four turnovers, said that that kind of lackluster showing could be attributed to being in what he called the “dog days” of the season.
“You kind of get to this point, where you can’t quite see the All-Star break anymore, but you can’t quite see the end yet,” Green said.
The starless Nuggets didn’t get the memo.
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“The minute we heard those guys were out, it’s like, all right guys, here we go,” Kerr said. “We’ve seen this a million times. This is how it works in the NBA. The other team’s guys are going to go nuts and they can’t wait to play, there’s no pressure, and so we’ve seen it a lot, and we didn’t respond the right way.”
Denver got 38 points and a team-high three steals from San Jose native Aaron Gordon, and the Nuggets defense as a whole were more than happy to take advantage of the Warrior miscues.
“The majority of those were live-ball turnovers, and then they capitalized on what seemed like every single one of them,” Curry said.
Turnovers weren’t the only issue on a night full of them.
The Warriors went a ghastly 1-for-7 from the free throw line in the first quarter, and finished the game 15-for-27. It was a far cry from the previous 10 games, when the Warriors shot at least 75% from the line in every game. The Nuggets were an efficient 14-for-18 from the stripe.
Golden State, possibly Curry-less, will not get much of a break on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Warriors will welcome Milwaukee and its 6-foot-11 battering ram Giannis Antetokounmpo.
