Steph Curry left Thursday night’s Warriors-Spurs game at Oracle Arena after rolling his right ankle before Golden State even scored a point in the first quarter.
Oh no, Steph. pic.twitter.com/gV1fS0QhgL
— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) March 9, 2018
The Warriors officially called the injury a “tweaked right ankle,” and announced Curry won’t return to the game.
Stephen Curry (tweaked right ankle) will not return to tonight's game.
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) March 9, 2018
But even if the injury isn’t serious, this is now the fourth time since Dec. 4 — a 29-game span — that Curry has injured his right ankle, and it’s the second time over the last week, as The Athletic’s Anthony Slater showed in a timeline:
Steph Curry has his head slumped in the timeout huddle. Frustration obvious as the occurrences piling up. This will be the fourth time since December he's sprained that right ankle.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 9, 2018
Steph Curry right ankle timeline this season
Dec. 4th: Bad sprain in New Orleans
Jan. 10th: Minor re-sprain while working out alone at shootaround
March 2nd: Minor sprain on Zaza's foot in Atlanta
March 8th: Sprain (severity unknown) on floor vs Spurs— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 9, 2018
It’s getting to the point where you have to wonder if it’s worth it for the Warriors to even bother sending Curry out there for any additional regular season games. And putting aside the ankle, this has to be taking a toll on Curry mentally.
The Warriors are 50-14 and have a top-two seed locked up in the Western Conference. They’re a game behind the Houston Rockets, who are winners of 17 straight games. The Rockets really are looking like a true threat to the Warriors, and you’d like to be the team with home-court advantage in that series.
However, home-court is secondary to this Warriors team. They’ve been to The Finals three consecutive years, winning twice (and only losing the other time because LeBron James is the best player on the planet). They’re the defending champions. They know how to win in any environment, and expect to win in any environment.
What they need much, much more, is a healthy and confident Steph Curry. And if the concern is Curry being on his game when the playoffs arrive, keep in mind that the Warriors shouldn’t have much trouble handling teams in the first two rounds. He’ll have plenty of time to get in his groove.
UPDATE: The Warriors are wisely having Curry sit out at least the next two games (at Portland and at Minnesota).
Warriors postgame plans for Steph Curry have shifted from traveling to Portland, may play vs Minnesota, to skipping Portland trip, still may fly/play in Minnesota, to, now, sitting out entire 2-game road trip to rest/recover in Bay Area, which always made the most sense.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) March 9, 2018
We’ll see what they decide after the road trip, but this will let Curry rest the ankle until at least Wednesday, when the Warriors host the Lakers. That game is followed by games against two tanking teams in the Kings and Suns. So, there’s little reason for Curry to play anytime soon; the Warriors should be able to handle these teams just fine without him.
Golden State made a late comeback on Thursday night — led by Kevin Durant — to take down the Spurs after Curry left with the injury. They’re now 51-14, and just 0.5 games behind the Rockets for the top seed in the Western Conference.
[TNT]
