Warriors have found their rhythm as Kevin Durant moves closer to return
Stephen Curry can see it now.
Sometime in the not-so-distant future, Kevin Durant will be back on the floor in time for a regular season run-up to the playoffs and their Super Team will be whole again. The Warriors announced as much on Wednesday, saying Durant’s recovery from the Grade 2 MCL sprain and tibial bone bruise suffered in his left knee on Feb. 28 had progressed to the point where a regular season return “remains a possibility.”
Barring a setback, Durant is known to be targeting the Warriors’ three-game homestand at the end of the season to return (April 8 against New Orleans, April 10 against Utah and April 12 against the Lakers). And as was the case back in July, when Durant left Oklahoma City behind by coming their way in free agency, the rest of the NBA is about to have every reason to be concerned again.
“He’s our brother, and we obviously know he’s improving and getting closer to playing,” said Curry, whose Warriors entered Wednesday’s game at the San Antonio Spurs on an eight-game winning streak. “There will be a point where he’ll get back in the lineup and we’ll make the adjustments, and hopefully the groundwork that we’ve done since he’s been out will only make us better when he does come back.”
Imagine that.
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As if we needed any more reminders that the Warriors have been setting the bar at an extremely high level these past few seasons, their media relations man, Raymond Ridder, announced another remarkable feat late Tuesday night in Houston. Their win over the Houston Rockets was the 200th in coach Steve Kerr’s three-season tenure, making him the fastest coach in professional sports history to reach that mark.
His combined regular season record entering the game against the Spurs? A mind-blowing mark of 200-38 that beat the previous leader, Phil Jackson, by 32 games (with the Chicago Bulls, starting in 1989). What’s more, the Houston win also gave the Warriors a 60-14 record that made them the first team to reach 60 wins in three consecutive seasons since the mid-90s Bulls (1995-98).
Kerr is always the first to tell reporters that he inherited a tremendous amount of talent, and landing Durant last summer was widely seen as the Warriors’ coup de grace on that front. But for a brief time after Durant went down in that game at the Washington Wizards, it was fair to wonder if they were vulnerable. Yet that sideways stretch in which they lost five of seven games was clearly an aberration, and now comes the prospect of an already-dangerous team adding a former MVP to its core – again.
Durant’s progress was there for all to see on Tuesday night.
As always, he worked with Warriors assistant Bruce Fraser during pregame, those white headphones fit snug on his head and black leggings covering the tape on his knee below. He ran off would-be screens without so much as a grimace, pulled up for midrange jumpers that looked as silky smooth as ever. Durant, who is still experiencing some expected tightness in the knee but appears to have moved past the point of pain, is even offering emphatic dunks on a regular basis again.
Per the Warriors’ update in which they said he’ll be reevaluated again in seven to 10 days, he is now being incorporated into non-contact basketball drills (shooting, running, jumping) with a plan to up his level of movement over the coming days (explosive cutting and lateral maneuvers). A return to contact drills and practice will eventually come next, and the vastly improved prospects of another championship to follow.
Follow USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick on Twitter @Sam_Amick.