Despite ugly loss, Warriors getting healthier for late-season push

Seth Curry caught the attention of more than just his Warriors teammates in his first action since the start of December. Elijah Harkless, a reserve guard for the Jazz, approached the younger Curry brother with a question at some point in his return Monday night.

“How do you come in and make shots right away?”

Curry relayed the interaction to reporters in Utah after the game. Although the Warriors were dealt an ugly 119-116 loss by a tanking Jazz team missing its best players, Curry was sharp as ever.

After sitting out the past 40 games — 32 with sciatica — Curry scored 13 points in 12 minutes off the bench. He shot 4-of-6 from the field, displayed a mid-range game and sank 2-of-3 from beyond the perimeter (where the Warriors otherwise shot 14-of-49, or 28.6%).

“Seth was great. It was really fun to have him out there,” coach Steve Kerr said. “He can light it up in a hurry. … It was really nice to have him back.”

The performance bodes well for a beaten-up group in Golden State, which needs all the help it can get after the loss dropped them into ninth place in the Western Conference before Tuesday’s showdown with Chicago.

The Warriors got another good omen heading into the Bulls game.

Curry’s return allowed Kerr to limit De’Anthony Melton’s minutes with the intent of him playing in his first set of back-to-back games since returning from knee surgery.

Golden State has two more sets of back-to-backs over the next week-and-a-half. Melton and Curry should give the beleaguered team a much-needed boost.

Melton has started the past 11 games he’s played, averaging 16.1 points. Curry led the NBA in 3-point percentage last season and doesn’t appear to have any rust to worry about.

The Warriors should almost resemble an NBA team again Tuesday with Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford expected to return, as well. But it’s the other Curry whose status will determine their fate this season.

Steph Curry is set to be re-evaluated Wednesday after missing his 15th consecutive game with inflammation in his right knee. The brothers still have not shared the court.

It looked like it would happen soon after Seth debuted on Dec. 2. Just like Monday against the Jazz, it went off without a hitch, contributing an efficient 14 points in 18 minutes.

Steph Curry would miss three more games with a quad strain, and by then Seth Curry was ailing from a sore toe. The pain migrated to his back and he said, “I just got up one morning and couldn’t move at all.”

Seth said he could hardly move for close to a month. An MRI at the end of December revealed the sciatic nerve to be the source of the problem. It wasn’t until a breakthrough over the All-Star break that Seth could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“I didn’t know if I would make it back at all,” he said.

Gui Santos watched Seth work with the Warriors’ training staff behind the scenes. He practiced live over the All-Star break and it has been a process of ramping him up for his return to game action ever since.

“He was working really hard to get back, to be with us. Now you can see that he was working,” Santos said. “He’s been out for a lot of time, but his first shot, he just made his first shot. Then he got another one. Boom. He made it again. … Just being Curry. That’s a superpower.”

Seth checked in for the first time a little more than nine minutes into the first quarter. He found himself all alone in the corner on his first possession. Boom.

He said he’s always had an innate ability to come in cold and light a fire.

“Always helps when they give you a wide-open shot when you get in there,” he added.

“I actually do work on just trying to make shots cold,” he continued. “But I’ve had a knack for coming in with no rhythm and being able to contribute. It’s something that made me stick in the league and get a chance, but it’s still working for me.”

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