LOS ANGELES • It is too late for Stephen Curry to save the Golden State Warriors' season, but his imminent return should stabilise the worst team in the National Basketball Association.
While the Los Angeles Lakers were without LeBron James (sore groin), they could count on Anthony Davis to step up, with the forward contributing a game-high tying 23 points to lead the visitors to a 116-86 win on Thursday night.
He was given a hand by Rajon Rondo, who scored 12 points, while Kyle Kuzma and Dwight Howard added 18 and 13 off the bench respectively, as the Western Conference's best team improved to 45-12.
The Warriors, on the other hand, do not have the same luxury of a stacked roster. The hosts had 10 available players, two of whom are on 10-day deals, as they slumped to their eighth straight loss, both overall and at home, for a 12-47 record.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr is hopeful that Curry, who has missed all but the first four games of the term after breaking his hand on Oct 30, can at least halt their free fall. But no risks will be taken on his fitness.
On his expected return as Golden State host the Washington Wizards tomorrow, he said: "If it's Sunday, great. If it's not, that's fine too.
"We need to win a game. We need to win a game once in a while to feel better about things. Right now, we're in a bad stretch. It's tough."
James remains a doubt for the trip to the Memphis Grizzlies today, but that simply means the rest of the team have to continue to contribute more on both ends of the court.
Davis said: "LeBron, when he's out, it's taking away a lot of things that we do, so it's on all of us to make sure we kind of fill those voids and we did that tonight."
Kerr, whose team were paced by 23 points from Eric Paschall, could only look on with envy at the Lakers' depth.
Warriors guard Klay Thompson has sat out the season with a cruciate ligament injury.
Expressing his hope the Warriors, who have triumphed in three of the past five NBA Finals, can come back stronger after enforced layoffs for his key players, he said: "Watching LeBron, he looks refreshed, looks recharged.
"The idea of eight straight Finals in insane when you think about five here, and what it's done and how our players have felt this past year, and the injuries that have hit.
"I do believe by next year's training camp, our guys should feel refreshed and ready to go."
REUTERS
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