OAKLAND -- The championship dreams the Warriors had entering the season didn't die with the news that Stephen Curry will be out for the remainder of the regular season and, presumably, the beginning of the playoffs.
Yes, he's the most influential player on the team.
Yes, he's irreplaceable.
But assuming they have good health and typical production from their other All-Stars -- Kevin Durant and Draymond Green and Klay Thompson -- the Warriors are equipped to win without Curry over the next five weeks.
They should win most of their 10 remaining regular-season games.
They should survive the first round of the playoffs.
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"This is part of it," Warriors coach Steve Kerr says. "It's just the game. There are injuries, so we just go play. We can accomplish all of our goals. So we'll see what happens with Steph in terms of a timetable.
"But we're getting KD and Klay and Draymond back here coming up soon. There's no reason why we can't go out and get on a hot streak and go into the playoffs in a good frame of mind and win games and win series and hopefully get Steph back somewhere along the way and do everything we set out to do."
Curry's timetable, based on similar injuries to others, falls in the five-week range, about the time the second round of the playoffs begin. The second round likely will be infinitely tougher than the first, particularly if the Warriors draw Portland or Oklahoma City or Minnesota, with Jimmy Butler, or San Antonio, with Kawhi Leonard.
Green, the heart of the team's defensive foundation is scheduled to return Sunday against Utah. If Green stays active and effective on defense, blowing up opponents' possessions, the Warriors can beat any team. We repeat: any team.
Durant, one of the league's most difficult matchups, is expected to return no later than Thursday. If he finds his rhythm by season's end, he's able to light up any defense on earth. The offense will effectively belong to him, and the reigning NBA Finals MVP is mentally ready to accept that challenge.
Remember, now, Durant not only was better than LeBron James last June but if you check the individual numbers when they match up, you'll find he has been as good or better for a number of years.
Thompson, the best catch-and-shoot sniper in the NBA, will need at least another week. He is as important to the offense as Green is to the defense. Thompson is capable of winning a game almost single-handedly. He has not had a Nuclear Klay game this season, so one would have to think he has a couple in his back pocket.
All three should be healed from their current injuries by the first week of April, giving them three or four regular-season games together before diving into the playoffs.
With the Durant-Green-Thompson trio on top of their games, at both ends but particularly so on defense, the Warriors as good as any team in the league even if Curry is sitting on the bench wearing a designer suit.
"Once everybody is back, other than Steph, that's the formula," Kerr says. "Defend like crazy, KD's going to have the ball in his hands a lot more and we've got to get stops and take care of the ball. We can be really, really good doing that."
If that trio is properly supported by Andre Iguodala, the team's most noted "money player," and fellow veterans Shaun Livingston and David West, the Warriors are better than all but maybe the Rockets, Raptors and Celtics.
Should the Warriors run deep enough to reach any of those three teams, it will be mid-May at the soonest and Curry will be back by then.
Meanwhile, it's a lot to ask Quinn Cook to take command in the postseason. So don't. There's no need for that, as long as the All-Stars are on hand. If he is assertive and scrappy and steady, that will do just fine.
Understand, Curry's presence is massive, particularly on offense. Opponents generally devise plans to send help his way at a moment's notice. No matter who is on the floor with him, he gets the most attention and still thrives.
Curry's absence merely shifts the weight required to achieve those dreams into fewer hands. Those hands are more than capable, as long as they lock in on defense, to carry the team until he returns.
