The Golden State Warriors quest to catch the Memphis Grizzlies for the 2 seed in the Western Conference just got a whole lot tougher. Perennial All-Star Stephen Curry tweaked his left foot in the Warriors game against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
Curry and Celtics guard Marcus Smart were battling for a loose ball when his left ankle got rolled up on. The 2 time league MVP immediately grimaced in pain before attempting to walk it off. After it was evident Curry was still labouring he was checked out of the game and ruled out shortly thereafter.
Following the 110-88 loss to Boston, team officials conducted an MRI on Curry where it was revealed the 3 time champion had a sprained ankle, but had otherwise avoided any significant damage.
As a result, Curry will be shut down for the remainder of the regular season. Golden State currently trails Memphis by one game for the number two seed, with 12 games left to play.
While it’s widely expected Curry will be back at 100% health in time for the playoffs, the injury deals a big blow to the Warriors efforts to regain their championship chemistry down the stretch. Between Klay Thompson’s prolonged absence recovering from multiple injuries, and Draymond Green’s ailing back, the Warriors’ “Big 3” have played a total of only 11 minutes together on the court this season.
Head Coach Steve Kerr and the rest of the Golden State roster stopped short of calling the play dirty, however words like “dangerous”, “reckless” and “unnecessary” were thrown around in the post game scrums with reporters.
The Warriors are next in action Sunday night against the San Antonio Spurs.
Photo: Noah Salzman. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.