SAN FRANCISCO: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors drives to the basket against the Memphis Grizzlies during the third quarter at Chase Center in San Francisco. — AFP

NEW YORK: The NBA’s Christmas Day slate seems to lack some of its usual luster as the league grapples with the rise of the Omicron coronavirus variant. The Golden State Warriors, led by NBA three-point king Stephen Curry, travel to Phoenix to take on the Suns in a battle of the league’s top two teams. It looks to be the highlight of the five-game program that will be lacking some of it’s expected star power with Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant and likely Dallas’ Luka Doncic among the dozens of NBA regulars sidelined by COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

There was a glimmer of good news on Friday, when ESPN reported Milwaukee’s two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo had cleared protocols. But last season’s Finals MVP was reportedly still to test his conditioning before deciding if he’d play against the Boston Celtics. “Well this is the unknown,” Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James said of dealing not only with injury absences but with the sudden unavailability of players who test positive and must isolate from their teammates. The Lakers host the Eastern Conference-leading Nets-who have had three games postponed as COVID-related absences left them with too few players to field a team.

‘So many guys out’

Nets coach Steve Nash said he didn’t expect Durant to be cleared to return now, although Brooklyn have been able to welcome back James Harden. “It’s a game that both teams want to win, no matter what circumstances,” James said. “Is it going to be one of the premier games that I’m accustomed to playing on Christmas Day? No. So many guys out. “You know this whole protocol thing has gotten a lot worse for a lot of the teams in the league right now.”

The NBA has made changes to allow teams to shore up their depleted rosters with players from the developmental G-League. They have also discussed tweaking the return-to-play requirements for those who land in COVID protocols that might let vaccinated, asymptomatic players get back on the court more quickly.

In other Christmas Day games, the New York Knicks host the Atlanta Hawks at Madison Square Garden, the NBA champion Bucks host Boston and the Utah Jazz host the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs had seven players sidelined by COVID concerns in their loss to the Bucks on Thursday, when the Jazz beat a Minnesota Timberwolves team that was also missing seven regulars. “It almost feels like we’re getting back to two years ago when it first started, just with the amount of players that are in the protocol at the moment,” Utah forward Joe Ingles noted Thursday. But Jazz star Donovan Mitchell said he was still looking forward to his second Christmas Day game.

Curry fuels Warriors

Meanwhile, Stephen Curry scored 46 points to propel Golden State to a hard-fought 113-104 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday that kept the Warriors a half-game behind Phoenix Suns for best record in the NBA. The Suns, led by 30 points from Devin Booker, meanwhile warmed up for a Christmas Day marquee clash against Golden State with a 113-101 victory over Oklahoma City Thunder in Phoenix.

Trailing by three at halftime, Phoenix out-scored the Thunder 37-21 in the third period to take control, pushing their lead to as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter. Back in San Francisco, Curry drained eight three-pointers and Gary Payton Jr added four from beyond the arc on the way to 22 points for the Warriors, who thwarted a late Grizzlies rally. Ja Morant scored 21 points for Memphis, who tied the score at 102-102 with 2:03 remaining.

Golden State responded with a basket from Juan Tosco-Anderson. Payton made a three-pointer and Curry drove for a layup as the Warriors pulled away again. “Vintage Steph,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Curry’s fifth 40-point game of the season. “That’s about as good as it gets against a very physical defense with great size. For him to get 46, he showed every bit of his talent and will tonight.”

The San Antonio Spurs used a three-point barrage to withstand a 36-point performance from LeBron James in a convincing 138-110 victory over the Lakers in Los Angeles. “They’ve been one of the hottest teams in the league over the last 10 games, they’ve been playing exceptional basketball,” James said of the Spurs. “Every mistake that we had, every breakdown we had, they made us pay.” Drew Eubanks scored 30 points off the bench, Derrick White added 23 and the Spurs drained 18 three-pointers in the victory in the last game at Staples Center before the name of the downtown Los Angeles arena changes to the Crypto.com Arena on Saturday. The Singapore-based cryptocurrency platform reportedly purchased the rights to the arena name for $700 million over 20 years.

In other games Thursday-the last day of action before the NBA’s five-game Christmas Day slate-Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 10 of his 15 points in the final four minutes as the short-handed Atlanta Hawks held off the Philadelphia 76ers 98-96. The Hawks were without seven players because of COVID-19 concerns but they still managed to pull off the upset in Philadelphia, where Sixers star Joel Embiid missed a potential tying shot as time expired.

Kemba Walker, recently benched for nine games by New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, scored 44 points in a performance that recalled his four All-Star nods. It wasn’t enough, however, as the Knicks fell 124-117 to the Washington Wizards-who lost Bradley Beal to COVID health protocols earlier Thursday. Spencer Dinwiddie scored 21 points to lead the Wizards. Corey Kispert added 20 as seven Washington players scored in double figures.— AFP