Warriors star Steph Curry on track to return for upcoming road trip
SAN FRANCISCO — As the team expected, Steph Curry’s knee pain likely won’t knock him out for multiple games, with the superstar on pace to play against the Suns on Saturday.
Curry, 36, practiced in full on Friday after missing Wednesday night’s game — a 105-101 loss to the Thunder. Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the team plans to list him as questionable for Saturday’s game in Phoenix, but the tea leaves point to Curry returning.
“We’ll see how he holds up after today’s practice, but yeah, he’s doing better,” Kerr said after Friday’s practice.
Curry has missed four games this season — three with an ankle sprain and one with the knee issue. He’s playing a career-low 29.7 minutes per game in an effort to get him through the year healthy. While remaining the best shooter in the league, Curry is averaging 22.4 points, 6.5 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game.
Curry’s current injury, listed as bilateral patellofemoral pain, is commonly known as “runner’s knee” — discomfort around or behind the kneecaps. Kerr had described the ailment as “tendonitis” and Curry had previously been on the injury report this year with knee “bursitis.” Regardless of the official medical jargon, Curry’s knees have been bothering him for the past couple weeks.
But since he rested against Oklahoma City this week, he’ll have four days between games to recover. At Friday’s practice, amid three straight losses, the Warriors (12-6) focused on getting into their offensive sets quicker and with more authority instead of being a “half-step slow,” Kerr said. Curry was in the mix for that work.
“He looks good to me,” Brandin Podziemski said.
Without Curry against the Thunder, the Warriors’ offense struggled, especially in the fourth quarter. Jonathan Kuminga was, at times, the only player who could consistently get into the lane and score. Golden State went 19-for-46 as a team in the paint. Podziemski slid into Curry’s starting role and reserve Pat Spencer backed him up, playing the best game of his career.
Curry’s absence was particularly apparent during the fourth quarter, when the Warriors scored just 18 points.
Golden State is 3-1 in games Curry has missed this season, which matches its win total without him from last year. But the team has put together its first losing streak and is entering a brutal stretch of the schedule against Western Conference contenders.
First up is Phoenix, who is 9-2 in games with Kevin Durant. From there, the Warriors head to Denver, which has found some answers after a concerning first couple weeks.
“Just too comfortable with winning,” Buddy Hield said. “I feel like getting back to our principles, stuff we normally do — communication on offense, defense, executing down the stretch. Finishing plays and doing the little things that matter. Practice always helps with that. Trying to regroup so we can get refocused for this road trip.”