Steph Curry's Text Message to Draymond Should Have Warriors Fans Fired Up

Warriors have some momentum after thrilling win over Rockets

Stephen Curry and Draymond Green | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

After the Golden State Warriors stunned the Houston Rockets with a 115-113 overtime victory on Thursday, Draymond Green revealed what Stephen Curry texted him recently.

"Keep going," Curry told Green. "I know it's tough, but promise you, I'm coming back."

Curry has missed the last 12 games with runner's knee, and he'll be re-evaluated after the Warriors play the Bulls on March 10. So he'll miss at least the next three games, but there hasn't been any indication that he'll be back right after he's re-evaluted.

That led to some to speculate that he'll get shut down for the rest of the season, but Curry's text message says otherwise.

Green led a dramatic win over the Rockets despite the fact that the Warriors had just 10 active players. He had one of his best defensive performances of the season, and offensively he chipped in with 10 points and eight assists.

The Warriors are now a respectable 5-7 in Curry's 12-game absence.

Can Warriors Stay in Eighth Place in the West?

The Warriors should not rush Curry back on principle, but the argument that they shouldn't play him at all until the play-in tournament because it doesn't matter where they finish is foolish.

If the Warriors finish seventh or eighth, they have win just one game in the play-in tournament to make the playoffs. If they finish ninth or 10th, they'll have to win two, and the second one is guaranteed to be a road game.

So that's why it would be extremely valuable to finish better than ninth.

Currently, the Warriors are in eighth place at 32-30, which is 1.5 games ahead of the Clippers (30-31) and 2.5 games ahead of the Blazers (30-33).

Saturday's game against the Thunder will likely be a loss, but after that they play the Jazz, who are essentially tanking for draft position, and then the Bulls, who have lost 12 of their last 14 games.

Overall, the Warriors have eight games left against teams witih bottom-nine records. It's imperative that they win these games to hold off the Clippers and Blazers.