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Warriors’ Curry, Thompson sit out game
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Fans in Denver will see “The Splash Brothers” in street clothes as opposed to their uniforms.
The Golden State Warriors are resting All-Star guards Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson for Friday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets.
The Warriors have the luxury of giving their best players a night off because they lead the Memphis Grizzlies by seven games for the top seed in the Western Conference. Golden State also is playing a fifth game in seven nights.
“They need a rest,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said to reporters after the morning shootaround.
Besides Curry and Thompson, starting center Andrew Bogut and reserve guard Andre Iguodala are also getting the night off. Additionally backup forward Marreese Speights is serving a one-game league suspension for pleading no contest to reckless driving in Florida.
Curry is fifth in the league in scoring at 23.6 points per game and eighth in the league in 3-point shooting at 41.9 percent. Thompson is the league’s fourth most accurate 3-point shooter at 43.4 percent.
Both players are missing their second game of the season, but with the Warriors hosting the New York Knicks on Saturday, Kerr said he would prefer not to rest them in a home game.
“Our home fans pay good money to see us play,” Kerr said. “I’d much rather we did this on the road, even though I know there are people here in Denver probably coming to see Steph and Klay play, in particular.
“Unfortunately, we can’t base our own team’s welfare on that. We can at least sway it in the side of our own fans. So those guys will all be active and playing tomorrow night.”
