Stephen Curry’s status for Warriors playoff opener unclear
SAN FRANCISCO – Stephen Curry‘s status for Golden State’s playoff opener Saturday against Denver remains unclear as he rehabs a sprained ligament in his left foot.
The reigning scoring champion has been doing individual work on the court in recent days and could be integrated into full practices and scrimmages sometime this week. The Warriors said Tuesday that “his eventual return to game action – and the possibility of playing this weekend – is undetermined and will be based on his continued progress.”
“He continues to get his work in,” coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s literally day to day, so tomorrow we’ll meet with the team and go through our strategy, our game plan, practice in the afternoon and then each day we’ll just determine where Steph is as far as how much he’ll be able to do.”
Curry was injured March 16 at home against Boston and Golden State went 6-6 without him, finding some rhythm to win the final five regular-season games.
Kerr said his team will scrimmage Thursday, so that could be Curry’s first opportunity to test the foot in live action if he’s ready. He won’t play in a game until he has been in a scrimmage.
“The whole team will need a scrimmage given that we generally play every other day and all of a sudden we have six days between games, that’s pretty unique,” Kerr said. “Everybody will need a scrimmage but it would be irresponsible to put Steph out there in a playoff game without having scrimmage time before.”
The Warriors finished 53-29 to secure the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. They will host the Nuggets on Saturday night in Game 1 of the first round at Chase Center.
“At the end of the week we’ll determine whether he’s ready or not,” Kerr said when asked whether there is a timetable for making a decision about Curry’s availability. “It’s hard to predict much.”
Playing Boston, Curry was injured with 4:19 remaining in the second quarter while scrambling for a loose ball. Marcus Smart made a diving lunge on the play and landed on the two-time MVP’s leg. Curry grimaced in pain and got up but hobbled along before exiting on the next dead ball moments later.