Stephen Curry Injury Update: Golden State Warriors Star Ready To Play In Game 4 Against Houston Rockets


Stephen Curry is still nursing a hurt ankle, but the injury is not expected to keep the Golden State Warriors star out of a suddenly very important Game 4.

Curry had missed the last two games against the Houston Rockets, including their surprising Game 3 loss that has now made it a more competitive series. Curry had sprained his ankle in the first game of the Western Conference series and has been building himself back to playing shape.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he believes Curry is ready to go for Sunday’s matchup.

“I would expect Steph to play,” Kerr said (via ESPN). “He scrimmaged today; we went full-court 5-on-5. He didn’t have any pain this morning or after the workouts. So we’re expecting him to play, but we’ll see how he is [Sunday] morning.”

Curry told reporters on Saturday that he is no longer in pain but does have soreness in his ankle. Curry said it’s nothing out of the ordinary for a playoff, during which all players are dealing with some kind of injury or soreness.

Stephen Curry had wanted to play in Game 3 on Thursday, but Kerr said it wasn’t worth risking it.

“It’s tough,” Curry said. “It’s the playoffs, man, it’s what you want to be ready for and you see your guys out there fighting, doing what they need to do to help us get wins. I want to be out there with them and enjoy that atmosphere. So, hopefully Game 3 was the last one I’ll miss.”

The Golden State Warriors have already shown plenty of caution with their star player. Earlier in the week, Curry said he was ready to play in Game 2 but ended up sitting out both that game and the next one.

The team has had its eyes on defending its 2015 title all throughout the season, and Kerr doesn’t want to lose sight of that now. The Warriors coach had previously said that Curry wasn’t able to return to Game 1 after suffering the injury and would have stayed on the bench even if the game was on the line.

“I didn’t like the way he was moving when he went back out in the third quarter,” Kerr said (via ESPN) of Curry’s attempt to go back into Monday’s game after suffering the injury. “He wanted to stay in, but he wasn’t moving well, so we weren’t going to play him, regardless of what happened.”

The return of Stephen Curry will be a boost to the team that many had expected to sweep the No. seeded Rockets out of the first round. But even their Game 3 loss came with a caveat — the NBA said afterward that Rockets guard James Harden’s game-winning shot should not have counted, and that he should have been called for an offensive foul on the push-off.

The Warriors also squandered their final chance when Draymond Green dribbled the ball off his foot and out of bounds with just seconds to go and a chance to win the game.

“I cost us the game,” he said. “The world will think I’m talking about that last turnover but I’m not. That happens. I was awful the whole game. I care about that turnover, but I cost us the game way before then.”

The Golden State Warriors may be getting Stephen Curry back for Game 4, but possibly not for the entire game. Kerr will reportedly be monitoring the former league MVP and could limit his minutes, especially in the event that the Warriors hold a big lead over the Rockets.

[Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images]

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