Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry missed a playoff game for the first time since 2018 due to a hamstring injury he sustained in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
Curry called it a “gut punch” ahead of Game 2 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday, which they lost 117-93. The Warriors will have to press on without the longtime star for a week, which could impact the seven-game series.
“This is new, and from all that I’m learning about how quickly you can get back, there has to be a healing process,” Curry told reporters during the shootaround. “You can’t accelerate it more than what it’s telling you.
“So it'll be one of those, after a week, really reevaluating every day to understand when it’s safe just to even think about playing, let alone how much can you push it,” he added.
“I felt great the whole game up until that point,” Curry said. “And then I made a little pivot move on defense and felt something.”
“I felt like I could just go get it released and be able to come back out. But with soft tissue, stuff like that, it was one of those situations I could have done more damage if I tried to go back out,” he added. “So obviously a tough break, but hopefully I'll be back soon.”
While Curry anticipates it will be a while before he is back to shooting on the court, he believes his team can keep going. Golden State has been there before, having gone 9–3 in the playoffs without him during his career.
The Warriors knocked out the San Antonio Spurs 4–1 in the 2018 Western Conference quarterfinals without Curry. Golden State also beat the New Orleans Pelicans in Game 1 of the semifinals before his return, and that Warriors team went on to win the NBA title with a 4–0 sweep of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“There is a great vibe in our locker room in terms of them trying to hold the fort down,” Curry said. “We have a lot of confidence that we can still win the series, and guys step up no matter how it looks.
“And it’s obviously a situation where you want to think positively and optimistically that we can win games and buy me some time to get back and stretch, hopefully have another series after this and be able to be in a position where I can get back out there safely where I’m not putting too much risk on the body if it’s not ready,” Curry added.
Curry, 37, isn’t getting any younger, and the Warriors invested in the current core with the addition of star guard Jimmy Butler via a trade with the Miami Heat. The Warriors have also played the maximum number of playoff games thus far, fresh off a seven-game series with the Houston Rockets.
“The way that we were playing, and I was playing individually, that first half, I was starting to feel really, really good about where we were at,” Curry said. “And then you kind of get a gut punch like that. So it was really emotional at first.”
Golden State won’t have an easy out in the semifinal matchup with the Wolves. Minnesota reached the Western Conference finals last season, and star guard Anthony Edwards looks as strong as ever.
How the series plays out could impact Curry’s eagerness to get back on the floor in Game 5, but he’s aware of the challenges in judging when to come back. The Warriors will still have two more seven-game series to advance through to win the title if they can get through the Wolves.
“There will eventually be conversations like that,” Curry said. “I’m not even anywhere close to that right now, so I’m not rushing it because there has to be a natural healing process that happens, and the body will tell you even if you’re able to do normal basketball movements, pain-free and all that stuff.
“And I know how tricky hamstrings can be where they can fool you and think that it’s healed even if you don’t feel anything. ... I'll do everything in my power to get back as soon as possible.”
