West Notes: Warriors, Steph Curry, Lakers, Anthony Davis, Mavs

Warriors

The Warriors admittedly are still finding their way, and remain confident, despite their struggles this season, Steph Curry indicated to reporters.

“We’re capable, but it’s a matter of execution and being able to sustain it,” Curry said, via Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “There’s another level to get to that we haven’t gotten [to] in terms of putting together a full 48 minutes.”

The Warriors still believe they are contender material — but concede they have a ways to go to get there.

“Last year [we] started 18-2, we had some rough patches but at least you had a segment of the season that you could say we figured it out,” Curry said recently, via Andrews. “We might have had a game or two, but we have not had a stretch where consistently we can say we have figured it out. You’re going to lose games from time to time … But a lot of it is self-inflicted or not being able to prove we have the identity that we need.”

• Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins will all sit for Friday’s game vs. the Cavaliers — the final of a five-game trip for Golden State.

Lakers

• Star big man Anthony Davis appears to be about a week from returning, barring any setbacks, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
• Coach Darvin Ham told reporters Thursday that Davis is progressing “really, really, really well.” We have that full post here.
• The Lakers are among the teams interested in Pistons guard/forward Alec Burks ahead of the Feb. 9 trade deadline, sources told Hoops Wire.

Mavericks

Coach Jason Kidd isn’t pleased with the Mavericks’ defense, and with good reason. They currently sit at 25th in the NBA in defensive rating.

“Tonight, we gave up 130 points and a team shot 57 percent,” Kidd said after Wednesday’s loss to the Hawks. “It’s a shootaround. In this league, if you do that, no matter if you have (Luka Doncic) or (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) or (LeBron James), you’re going to lose. It doesn’t matter how many points you score, you’re always going to be short.”

• Doncic joined Mavs owner Mark Cuban in denying an ESPN report indicating Doncic is pushing the team to make a deal before the trade deadline. “Obviously, I know, the people who are next to me, who I talk to, they know that’s not true,” Doncic said, via Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. “I didn’t say nothing about that.”