Stephen Curry looked like himself in his injury return, and Steve Kerr says Warriors are 'back in the fight'

Curry, who played Sunday for the first time since Jan.

30, said it 'felt like old times' down the stretch
In his first game since Jan.

30, Stephen Curry put up 29 points on 11-for-21 shooting in 26 minutes on Sunday.

Curry's return reenergized the Chase Center, and he almost led the Golden State Warriors to a comeback victory, too.

"There's a different energy in the building and there's a different confidence with our team," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters after the 117-116 loss against the Houston Rockets .

Golden State is 10th in the West and headed for the play-in, but Curry's presence is still a total game-changer.

"You can just feel it," Kerr said.

"We're back in the mix.

We're back in the fight with Steph."
Curry had missed the Warriors' previous 27 games because of runner's knee.

He came off the bench against Houston, and the plan was to play him the last six minutes of each quarter.

He ended up playing a bit more than that, as Kerr put him on the floor for the final eight minutes of the third.

It took Curry just a few possessions to get up to speed, and he certainly looked like himself in crunch time, bringing Golden State back from a 10-point deficit in the final five minutes to take a one-point lead with 20 seconds left.

"After I traveled and got my shot blocked the first two possessions, I kind of settled in nice," Curry told reporters .

Warriors big man Kristaps Porziņģis fouled out early in the fourth quarter, which meant he only logged eight minutes next to Curry in their first game together.

This wasn't what Golden State wanted, but it led to the team closing the game with Draymond Green at center, a look Curry is very much accustomed to.

"That group that we had down the stretch, it felt like old times," Curry said.

"Just reading the defense.

They overreact to me on the perimeter, [ Gary Payton II ] is going to the bucket, Draymond's finding guys, getting guys in the pocket.

It was awesome.

Tough finish, obviously, but I like the way that we finished the game."
Curry added that that the closing unit was "in unison," describing it as "beautiful to watch and beautiful to be a part of."
"That was special," Curry said.

"We've both had a very difficult year.

Honestly, him more than me, with injuries.

I was joking, calling us the rehab brothers, 'cause it's been like that all year.

But to have that moment, coming out of a timeout and talking about our matchups, I was having flashbacks to Charlotte Christian High School my senior year, his sophomore year.

It was the last time in an actual game -- I know he was on our training camp roster in 2013, but the last time we actually played a game together.

"My mom was in the stands.

She probably doesn't have any more memory in her phone, taking all the pictures and videos.

That was a dream come true, to be honest."
After Green found a cutting Payton for a layup to give the Warriors a late lead, the Rockets erased it on the next possession when Kevin Durant set up a rolling Alperen Sengun for an easy bucket.

On the game's final play, Golden State's spacing wasn't perfect, and Curry had to take a deep 3 over both Jabari Smith Jr.

and Amen Thompson at the buzzer.

It didn't drop.

"Felt good about the effort, the process," Kerr said.

"I mean, 10 turnovers, 34 assists, we played really well offensively.

Just couldn't get that stop there at the end."
Kerr said that Curry "changes everything," pointing out that his off-ball gravity generated several layups for his teammates.

Golden State brought him back against an extremely physical defensive team, but he was able to get loose quickly.

"I don't think there's a tougher defender in the league for him to have his first game against than Amen Thompson, so that's quite a test," Kerr said.

"Steph looked amazing.

He's worked really hard for this.

You can see it doesn't take much for him to find his rhythm.

And his rhythm is also our rhythm."
Four games remain on the Warriors' schedule.

They host the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday and the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, then visit Sacramento on Friday and finish the regular season on Sunday on the road against the Los Angeles Clippers .

Curry said he expects to play about the same amount of minutes in the next game.

"Gotta be smart and do the right things for the right reasons," Curry said.

"I'm sure next game will look very similar to this one.

Then you kind of continue to assess how you feel moving forward and make, again, the right decisions.

All I'm looking forward to is Tuesday.

It'll probably be the same kind of flow and rhythm and hopefully it's more of the same and then we kind of take it from there."
Kerr said he expects Curry to be back in the starting lineup "soon," but isn't sure exactly when.

He is likely to play in three of the four games, per ESPN .

Golden State is also hoping to get big man Al Horford back.

"He's not going to play Tuesday, but these next few days, we'll ramp up his workouts and maybe some 3-on-3," Kerr said.

" f we can get him back for a couple games, just for some rhythm and rotation stuff, that'll be helpful."
At 36-42, the Warriors -- who lost Jimmy Butler to a torn ACL in January -- are nowhere close to where they wanted to be at this stage of the season.

Given all that's gone wrong for them, though, they're just looking to establish some positive momentum.

In that respect, Curry's return was clearly a success.