3 Stephen Curry Takeaways from Warriors' Loss to Rockets

Stephen Curry led a furious Golden State Warriors fourth-quarter rally, but they fell just short, losing 117-116 to the Houston Rockets on Sunday at Chase Center.

Curry finished with 29 points, but he missed the potential game-winning shot with about two seconds to go.

The Warriors had very little resistance for Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun. Durant had 31 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, while Alperen Sengun had 24 points, including the go-ahead basket with 11 seconds to go.

After missing 27 straight games with runner's knee, Curry was on a minutes restriction, finishing with just 26. The Warriors are expected to ramp up his minutes over the last four regular-season games before the play-in tournament.

Here are three Curry-related takeaways from Sunday's game.

The Way Curry Looked Makes the Dubs Favorites to Get Out of Play-In

Stephen Curry might not be totally healthy, but he is something that most players aren't at this stage in the season.

He's fresh.

Curry looked great Sunday, which changes the complexion of the play-in tournament.

At 36-42, the Warriors are likely to finish 10th. They will have to beat the ninth-placed team on the road—either the Clippers or Blazers—before having to beat another team on the road—one of the Suns, Clippers or Blazers—to advance.

Before Sunday, I would have said that would be an unlikely task, but now my conclusion is the Warriors are more likely than not to get out of the play-in.

They will need Al Horford to return from his calf injury to solidify their frontcourt rotation, and they can't afford any more injuries to key players. But as long as those things happen, Curry can cover up the roster flaws to get into the playoffs.

Among the other play-in teams, only the Clippers have a player who can make a Curry-like impact. But the Warriors, even with all their major injuries, arguably have a better supporting for Curry than the Clippers have for Kawhi Leonard.

I'm not saying the Warriors will blow out these teams. But a fresh Curry should give them a good chance to beat anyone they'll play.

Curry, Warriors Need to Fix Final Possession Woes

Over the last few years, the Warriors have had plenty of situations in which they were down by one with under 10 seconds to go with Curry bringing the ball up the floor.

Of course, Curry is always being guarded by an elite defender—on Sunday, it was Amen Thompson—so just clearing out and going one-on-one is arguably not a great solution.

But it's better than what the Warriors continue to do.

Draymond Green set a screen to get Thompson off Curry, putting Jabari Smith Jr. on him. But Thompson has no respect for Green from the perimeter, so he was simply waiting to steal the ball if Curry dribbled right.

Smith knew this too, which is why he took away any drive going left.

The result was Curry having to toss up a ridiculously tough three that went wide left.

Outside of Curry going one-on-one, the Warriors didn't have an obviously great option. Kristaps Porzingis fouled out early in the fourth quarter. Gary Payton II could have set the screen instead of Green, but it's not like Payton is respected shooter either.

I don't have the answer for the action that would result in the best look, but I can confidently say that the Green screen to force a switch is bringing two defenders to guard Curry and giving the Warriors virtually no chance of scoring.

Curry-Porzingis Connection Must Be Bigger Focus

By having Curry come off the bench, Porzingis didn't play a lot with Curry in this game.

The Warriors have to change that moving forward.

It's essential that Porzingis and Curry find chemistry before the play-in tournament.

Porzingis had an awful game, finishing with nine points in 23 minutes before fouling out. I don't think his poor performance had anything to do with Curry. It was more to do with the Rockets having a talented frontcourt.

Nonetheless, the Warriors didn't try Curry-Porzingis pick-and-pops and other actions that could have gotten Porzingis going.

Expect Kerr to get Porzingis and Curry more minutes together on Tuesday when Golden State plays Sacramento.