The Golden State Warriors wrapped up their regular season, earning the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. That sets them up in a matchup against the No. 6 seed Denver Nuggets, who are led by reigning and potential back-to-back NBA MVP, Nikola Jokic.
The Warriors are coming into the postseason playing some good basketball, as they have won five consecutive games. But, they would be feeling better about their chances had their own MVP, Stephen Curry, been healthy.
Curry has missed the last 12 games for the Warriors, last suiting up on March 12th against the Boston Celtics. He suffered a foot sprain and bone bruise in that game after Marcus Smart hit him while diving for a loose ball.
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Right now, it sounds as if it is a 50/50 shot at best that Curry is able to suit up for Game 1 on Saturday.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Curry remains a close call to be out there with his teammates. Head coach Steve Kerr didn’t offer much either when talking about it on Tuesday evening.
“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.”
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The end of the week is important because that is when Golden State is set to have their scrimmage. The scrimmage is expected to take place on Thursday and that will be a telling sign about how far along Stephen Curry is in his recovery.
Kerr said that Curry is day-to-day, but that he will have to scrimmage before taking part in a playoff game. The only work that he has been doing in practice recently is individual drills on the court, which certainly doesn’t paint a positive picture of his status. But, could the Golden State Warriors be playing it coy, not wanting to give anything away to the Nuggets ahead of their series?
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There is certainly some gamesmanship during the postseason, but Golden State isn’t going to risk anything with Curry.
“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.”
Tomorrow after the Golden State Warriors practice we should have a better idea of whether or not Stephen Curry is going to be able to play on Saturday. Golden State has a much better chance of winning with Curry on the court, but they aren’t going to play him until he is 100 percent ready to go.
