San Francisco — Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry Left in the final minutes of a 104–100 home loss. Houston Rockets Wednesday night, hobbled into the locker room with what the team called a right quad contusion.
Curry will undergo an MRI to determine the severity of the injury.
“When I heard it was a quad, I was really relieved,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Better than an ankle or a knee.”
Curry came up limping after a series of fourth-quarter collisions. He tried to take charge on the Rockets guard Amen Thompson He was elbowed down with 3:24 left. After review, Curry was called for a blocking foul.
Two possessions later, Curry drove into the lane for his missed layup attempt and was called for a charge. Kerr challenged the call, and it was not overturned. After this, Curry moved around silently for the next few minutes due to obvious pain.
During a timeout with 35.2 seconds left and the Warriors trailing by five, Curry spoke with the team’s chief medical decision-maker Rick Celebrini, who waved the bench and informed him that Curry was eliminated for the night. After this both of them left for the locker room.
“If Steph were to miss [time]?” Kerr said. “It obviously changes everything — our rotation, how we’re playing, who we’re playing through. We will see.”
Curry’s injury comes at a volatile time for the Warriors. Wednesday night’s loss dropped them to 10-10 in 20 games after a 4-1 start. After this, both Jimmy Butler III And draymond green The team’s recent defensive efforts have been criticized.
“We don’t box out,” Butler said. “We don’t go by scouting reports. We let anybody do whatever they want – open shots, get into the paint, make free throws. It’s very sad.”
The Rockets made only 39 of their 99 shots against the Warriors, but they grabbed 25 offensive rebounds, punishing Golden State with superior size and physicality. Houston outscored the Warriors by 16 points in the second half.
“Our defense is s—,” Green said.
The Warriors actually have a respectable defensive rating of 112.2 through 20 games, which ranks 10th out of 30 teams. They have been worse offensively with a 113.2 rating, which ranks 22nd.
“It’s not necessarily the numbers,” Green said. “How do you feel when you’re out there? It’s one disappointment after another. It’s bigger than numbers. Defense is about conduct. If there’s any laxity, it destroys your conduct, it destroys your bravery. Then you’re just a soft team.”
Green and Butler have been critical of the team’s play after some recent losses, including Green taking out personal agendas after a blowout loss in Oklahoma City. Green wanted to make sure he was keeping everyone united after Wednesday’s loss.
“We personally – I know everyone loves to mince words – I said we personally are terrible,” Green said.
Butler called this “front-running”.
“A lot of our turnovers are dependent on our offense,” Butler said. “When we’re making shots, oh, man, we’re celebrating, we’re cheering, doing all these things. When we’re not, when the game isn’t going our way, we put our heads down and we get frustrated and we don’t box out, and we don’t come back. We foul. We do all the bad things.”
warrior forward Jonathan Kuminga Looks close to a comeback. He told ESPN on Wednesday afternoon that his goal is to return for a home game on Saturday. New Orleans PelicansBut, pending the MRI results, it’s possible the Warriors will be without Curry,
“We have to be absolutely perfect [without Curry],” Butler said. “We’re not going to give our team a last breather.”
