Warriors’ losses of Moody, Curry continue to take a toll

SAN FRANCISCO — Without Moses Moody, who went down with a gruesome knee injury the last time they took the court, the Warriors lacked a spiritual leader beyond his years who had taken over a pregame locker room ritual from Kevon Looney.

“All of a sudden you don’t hear that today,” Draymond Green said after Golden State eked out a 109-106 win over the NBA-worst Nets on Wednesday.

Moody’s absence, and the emotional toll of losing such a beloved teammate in such devastating fashion, was clearly still wearing on the Warriors in their first game since the fifth-year wing’s patellar tendon ruptured, knocking him out for at least the next 9-12 months.

“What happened last game with Mo was a very sensitive moment for us,” said Gui Santos, who scored a career-high 31 points in the win. “A special guy like that, and we see exactly what happened to him that was really, really bad. It was not a good feeling for us.”

The Warriors were playing their seventh game in as many cities in 11 days, and coach Steve Kerr chalked up their fourth straight game with 21 or more turnovers to the team “running in mud,” while Gary Payton II described it more as “quicksand.”

It would be hard to blame them for feeling the same way about the season as a whole.

The loss of Moody, coming in the same game he returned after missing the past nine, was just the latest on a long list of injuries that has derailed what once looked to be one of their last chances to add a fifth championship to the dynasty built around Steph Curry.

Curry’s availability, or lack thereof, has been the most frustrating of all.

“Steph will play when he’s healthy,” Kerr reiterated after the game. “It’s as simple as that.”

Curry looked to be trending in the right direction as the Warriors’ last road trip came to an end. Runner’s knee has kept him out since Jan. 30, but he was set to participate in his first full-contact scrimmage this past Sunday. That still hasn’t happened.

The Warriors have nine games left and, still, no timetable for their superstar to return.

“I think where you get a little worried is you know he wants to come back and he hasn’t,” Green said. “That’s when you start looking at the clock ticking. Not from a standpoint of when he’s coming back, but I know he’s working to get back and if not now, what’s going on?”

The win over the Nets secured Golden State’s spot in the play-in tournament. The Warriors, currently in 10th, still have a chance to climb to the No. 8 or No. 9 seed.

Given the circumstances, Green was asked if he thinks Curry should return this season.

“I think if there’s an inkling of a doubt with his knee, no, I don’t,” he said. “But if he’s healthy and can play, then absolutely. That’s what you put the work in for. You put the work in to give yourself a chance to have a great season, get into the postseason and flourish on that stage.

“You don’t know how many opportunities you get. You can always kick the can down the road and say we’ll get back at it. But that don’t always work like that.”

The Warriors have learned that lesson the hard way recently. They were primed to make a deep run last season after acquiring Jimmy Butler, then Curry went down in the playoffs. That pushed the window to this year, then Butler tore his ACL in January and Curry’s absence followed.

“You just can’t be the guy that quits when it gets tough,” Green said. “… To be a part of this organization on the way up was magnificent. When it goes down the tank, I’m not jumping off the train. I can’t throw the towel in on these guys. Who do they turn to? So I try to provide that when Steph is out, Al (Horford) is out, Jimmy’s out. I try to just be a steady force so they can turn and know someone’s in the foxhole with them that’s been there.”

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