Steph Curry gets candid on Jimmy Butler potentially missing time with injury: "I'll carry a lot of the lift"

On Wednesday night, Steph Curry had to watch as his running mate Jimmy Butler crashed hard to the floor in the first quarter. Butler left the game early, and the Golden State Warriors ended up dropping Game 2 to the Houston Rockets.

After the Warriors' 109-94 loss at the Toyota Center, Curry reflected on the possibility that Butler could miss an extended period of time in this series due to his injury:

"If he's not out there, I'll carry a lot of the lift and the load on trying to create shots and create advantages," Curry told reporters in the media availability. "There's a couple of plays that we call for him specifically but the rest of it is just trying to make the simple play."

On the one hand, dealing with a shortened roster due to player injuries is nothing foreign to this season's Warriors, who employed 38 different starting lineups in the regular season. On the other hand, Butler is a particularly difficult loss to compensate for, in terms of both his nightly stat line and his intangibles.

In the second half of the season, the Warriors went 23-7 with Butler in the lineup. Then, with the six-time All-Star in harness, Golden State knocked off the Memphis Grizzlies in the play-in tournament and defeated the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of their first-round series.

Curry, of course, has been at the forefront of the Warriors' postseason offense for so long. Though Curry promises to "carry a lot of the lift," other Warriors will have to step up if Golden State wants to continue putting the pressure on their young Rockets opponents.

Steph Curry praises Houston Rockets defender following a loose ball scramble

The grizzled veteran that he is, Curry knows defensive brilliance in the playoffs when he sees it.

In a viral Game 2 clip on X, Curry is seen scrambling to secure possession of the ball as Rockets guard Jalen Green dives to potentially get a steal. After the referee blows his whistle, the four-time NBA champion pats Green on the back and offers him a proud smile:

Curry, however, was not grinning as the Warriors lost by 15 at the final buzzer. While he respects young defenders like Green, expect the NBA's all-time leader in three-pointers to come out with guns blazing in Game 3.