Warriors facing a sleep-deprived back-to-back in Toronto

Issues with their plane meant the Warriors didn’t land until 7:15 AM Friday

Playing on back-to-back nights is difficult in the NBA. It’s even worse when your plane arrives late.

That’s roughly twelve hours before the tipoff of the game between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors Friday night, where the team will also be without Andrew Wiggins or rookie Brandin Podziemski.

Podziemski had a collision in Thursday’s win over the Knicks, and sitting on an unmoving plane for hours is not the ideal way to rehab a sore and swollen knee.

Anthony Slater reported that the team didn’t even take off for the Great White North until 5 AM, and didn’t land until after 6.

It’s as if someone doesn’t want Steph Curry to ever play in Toronto again. He hasn’t played in “The 6” since Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals, when the Warriors broke the hearts of Raptors fans and Curry’s good friend Drake by erasing a six-point lead in the final three minutes.

He averaged 29.3 points and four three-pointers as the Warriors went 2-1 in Canada during that series. Unfortunately, they simply couldn’t win in the United States, going 0-3 in the final games at Oracle Arena.

But since then, Curry hasn’t been back to the place he spent his middle school years. Or, as they’re known in Canada, his maple syrup academy days, while his father was closing out his career with the Raptors, fueled by Saskatoon berries and ketchup chips.

Curry was hurt for most of the 2019-20 season. In 2021, Steve Kerr rested both Curry and Draymond Green on a back-to-back, and the Dubs lost by 53. In 2022, Kerr sat all his starters besides Kevon Looney in the finale of a five-game road trip, and the Dubs lost by 19. Last season, he missed the Toronto game with an injured shoulder, and the Dubs won by 16, thanks to Jordan Poole.

So here’s hoping that Curry got a nap this afternoon, because there’s a generation of young Raptors fans who have been waiting to see him throw in those 8.534-meter bombs from behind the three-point line. Finally those kids holding handmade “POUTINE CHEF CURRY” signs will be able to see their hero, even if he’s yawning and chugging Tim Horton’s coffee on the sidelines to stay awake.

After all, a potential trap game is no longer a trap game when the team suspects Chris Boucher of sabotaging their plane. Sure, they may sleepwalk through the first quarter, but not out of any disrespect to the Raptors. They’re just legitimately sleep-deprived.