SAN ANTONIO — The Warriors, say the critics, crawled to the finish of the regular season because they were bored, lazy, uninspired, lacking in spirit.

That shouldn’t be a problem now that the Warriors, with a 2-0 lead over the Spurs in the opening round of the playoffs, feature the league’s MVP.

That would be Stephen Curry, Most Valuable Pepster.

Curry is still recovering from a sprained MCL that has sidelined him for the past 12 games. But nobody gets more out of being sidelined than does Curry.

After watching some games from the locker room, or from a seat in the row behind the players and coaches, Curry moved down to the front row for Monday night’s Game 2 at Oracle Arena.

“I don’t know how Steph decides where he’s going to sit,” said Warriors’ assistant coach Bruce Fraser at Wednesday’s practice at the AT&T Center. “But I think he was missing the camaraderie on the bench, so he felt like he needed to be up front.”

As the Warriors fought off a scrappy Spurs team, then pulled away for the win, Curry lit up the gym, leaping off the bench time after time to cheer his guys on.

On one notable play, Klay Thompson sprinted toward the three-point line and took a pass. As Thompson was turning to face the hoop, before he even got off his shot, Curry was on his feet and spinning away from the court, facing the fans and throwing his arms in the air in the universal signal for a successful three-pointer.

Thompson, long Curry’s partner in crime, cooperated by swishing the three-ball. Curry has executed a no-look celebration on his own shots, but that was his first no-look on a teammate’s shot.

One might ask: Wouldn’t Curry have looked silly had Thompson missed the shot?

That’s a silly question. Thompson would never let down his Splash Brother by missing the shot.

Curry will likely be front row again Thursday for Game 3. Since he is still two to three weeks from being ready to play, he could have stayed away from this five-day trip to do his rehab work in Oakland, avoiding the time and rigor of travel.

Not his style.

“It’s great to have him on the trip,” coach Steve Kerr said. “He just makes everybody happy.”

The cheerleading gig is nothing new for Curry. That’s his role even when he’s healthy.

One memorable moment, also involving Thompson: When Klay was going berserk by scoring 60 points in 29 minutes against the Kings in a December 2016 game, Curry couldn’t contain his excitement. After Thompson hit one outrageous shot, Curry lost his stuff, dancing wildly in front of the bench, then sprinting toward the exit, a man who simply could no longer bear the excitement.

Antics like that, and Curry’s three-point shimmy, might cause some opponents and non-Warriors’ fans to infer disrespect. But that’s neither Curry’s intent, nor his concern. He’s there to have fun and enjoy the show, whether you like it or not.

“He’s one of our energy sources, for sure, whether he’s playing or not playing,” Fraser said. “That’s who he is, he’s a team guy, loves seeing our team do well, our guys do well.”

Last season, when Curry wasn’t in the game he sat on the bench next to Fraser.

“He always had funny stuff to say, and he’s got perspective,” Fraser said. “He loves the game, he loves life. Great energy.”

This season, Fraser sits in the row behind the bench, and Curry’s seatmate on the pines is assistant Jarron Collins.

“The joy that he brings to the game, it’s very contagious,” Collins said Wednesday. “It permeates throughout the organization,”

Collins is a serious, professorial type, at least on the bench, and he and Curry are something of an Odd Couple. Collins said friends have sent him video of the two of them side-by-side when the Warriors execute a great play.

“I’m looking at the next play, locked into the game,” Collins said, “and Steph is still celebrating the last play.”

Curry, on the court and on the sidelines, sets a tone for the team’s enthusiasm and celebration, and that may be infecting the entire hoops world. Collins said he has noticed high school and college players emulating the patented Curry Turnaround — the celebration of his (or Thompson’s) shot while the ball is still in the air.

“I was watching an NCAA Tournament game,” Collins said, “and the kid who passed the ball turned before the kid he passed it to shot the ball, and started celebrating the three. And I think a lot of that is from watching the way our guys celebrate one another’s successes, just having fun and playing with a joy.”

Warriors’ fans who are missing the excitement of watching Curry play will have to replace that, temporarily, with the thrill of seeing what Curry will wear on the sideline. For Game 2, he rocked a blue sport coat with bright orange accent lines, like a hipster road map of Mars.

Curry’s enthusiasm might be infectious, but not so his wardrobe.

“I don’t know if I have enough swag to pull that off,” Collins said.

Scott Ostler is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: sostler@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @scottostler