Stephen Curry is the heart and soul of the Golden State Warriors’ basketball ambitions. And on Sunday, during a shellacking of the Houston Rockets, the powers that be ripped that heart and soul from the Warriors’ grasp.
The soon-to-be two-time MVP left the game and didn’t return with what is now being called a sprained right knee or MCL, per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated:
San Francisco's @abc7 @MikeShumann reported a Warriors team doctor told him that Stephen Curry has a sprained right MCL.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpearsESPN) April 24, 2016
Not surprisingly, Curry, who already missed two and a half games of this series leading into Sunday’s win, was upset when told he couldn’t return to action.
Really upset:
From our folks at @NBAonESPNRadio:
Draymond Green told them Steph Curry was crying in the huddle when told he couldn't come back in.— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) April 24, 2016
That emotion was most assuredly related to the news he wouldn’t be returning in Game 4. But it was also likely a manifestation of knowing that this injury, his second of the postseason, wasn’t just about one game.
All signs point to Curry being out a while, through at least the second round, a matchup that will most likely pit the Warriors against the Los Angeles Clippers. Maybe Golden State has enough to win that series. In fact, it probably does. The Warriors won’t be favored, but they’re deep enough, versatile enough, to survive against a Clippers nucleus that has yet to prove it can make it out of the second round.
Still, beyond that, everything becomes tough to project.
Would Steph even be healthy enough to play in the Western Conference Finals? If he is, will the Warriors even let him? They know the stakes, after all. He has a lot of basketball left to play. And one more championship isn’t worth compromising what appears to be a blindingly bright future built to last another seven years or so.
These are tough times for the Warriors, and while they may not experience the full gravity of the situation until the Western Conference Finals, you better believe they understand it.
