Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry was “crushed” after exiting Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday with a left hamstring strain, Steve Kerr revealed.
“[Curry] is day to day. He’ll get an MRI tomorrow,” Kerr told reporters after the Warriors pulled off a 99-88 win without Curry in the second half. “I talked to him at halftime. He’s obviously crushed, but the guys picked him up and played a great game.
“Obviously, we’re all concerned about Steph, but it’s part of the game. Guys get hurt. You just move on. Our guys did a good job of moving on and getting a great win 48 hours after a Game 7 road win.”
Next Man Up
Buddy Hield took off from where he left. Hield scored 24 points on 5-of-8 shooting from 3 to lead Golden State in scoring after his playoff career-high 33 points in the Warriors’ Game 7 win at Houston in the first round.
Jimmy Butler added 20 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Draymond Green finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists as the trio picked up the slack for Curry.
“It’s just an amazing group of guys,” Kerr said of his team. “They compete. They’re together. We’ve been the best defense in the league since the Jimmy [Butler] trade and that’s what’s keeping us afloat right now.”
The Warriors kept the Timberwolves under 90 points on 39.5% shooting. But they did not go down without a fight.
Minnesota cut Golden State’s lead to nine with 5:19 left.
Hield responded with a 3-pointer while Butler scored on a floater to restore a double-digit lead.
Kerr plans to give the Warriors a rest day after a grueling first-round series against the Rockets that went the distance and a quick turnaround for the second round. But there will be no rest for Kerr and his coaching staff, who will convene to devise a game plan without Curry.
“We’re game planning for [Curry] to not be available on Thursday,” Kerr said. “We don’t know yet, but with hamstrings it’s hard to imagine he’d play Thursday.”
Steph Curry Could Miss More Than One Game
Getty Stephen Curry’s injury poses a serious threat to the Golden State Warriors’ ability to advance deeper in the NBA Playoffs.
Dr. Nirav Pandya, a professor at the Orthopedic Surgery department of the University of California, San Francisco and director of sports medicine at Benioff Children’s Hospital, said the minimum missed time for hamstring injuries in the NBA is six games based on a medical study he was part of.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that Stephen Curry will be gone for six games,” Dr. Pandya said.
Dr. Evan Jeffries, an NBA and NFL injury expert and owner of the San Diego-based Evolving Motion Physical Therapy, also outlined a typical recovery timeline for hamstring strain.
“This is the worst case scenario in a playoff series,” Dr. Jeffries wrote on X about Curry’s hamstring strain. “Typical timeline of healing is Grade I: 7-10 days and Grade II: 3-6 weeks.”
Curry’s return to play will be determined by the grade of his hamstring strain, location of the strain, the number of hamstring muscles involved, cross cross-sectional area involved and the degree of swelling, according to Dr. Pandya.
A grade 1 strain is a micro tear, grade 2 is a partial tear and grade 3 is a complete tear.
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