OAKLAND – If Stephen Curry has anything to say about it, he will play in Game 2 against the Houston Rockets on Monday.
Never mind the fact that the Golden State Warriors star is listed as questionable.
“Right now I don't see a scenario where I'll be out,” said Curry, who turned his right ankle in the second quarter of a Game 1 win over the Rockets (104-78) at Oracle Arena on Saturday. “Obviously, if it's not right and at risk of further injury or whatnot, that's the only thing that I think we have to worry about. Pain tolerance and all that stuff, I kind of know what I can deal with on the court, but you don't want anything more serious to happen favoring an ankle or whatnot. So that's what we'll pay attention to the next few days.”
This was the Warriors’ lone concern after their dominating effort against a listless Rockets squad. It would be worrisome for the Warriors in any event, let alone with the kind of harrowing health history Curry has had with his ankles.
Yet this has nothing to do with that, and Curry will likely be back to his dominating ways the next time these two teams face off. He scored 24 points before suffering the injury, then hobbled up the floor before eventually checking out and heading back into the locker room.
“Yeah, I just tried to change direction, missed the shot, and tried to get back on defense, and then slipped a little bit and felt it slip or tweak,” Curry said. “That's when the pain kind of came in. I was able to go a couple more possessions and it started to get a little bit worse. So Coach kind of saw that and subbed in. And in the second half I felt like I could go out there and be somewhat effective on the floor and less painful.”
After he re-taped the ankle, Curry played nearly three third-quarter minutes before returning to the bench again. Team officials said he was available to play in the fourth quarter, but he didn’t return.
It wasn’t for lack of trying.
As Curry shared afterward, he asked Warriors coach Steve Kerr three times to let him re-enter the game. And when he didn’t get the answer he wanted – like a kid who runs to Dad when Mom says ‘no’ – he went to the team’s assistant coaches.
“I even went to (assistant coach) Luke (Walton) at one point and tried to get some help,” Curry said. “I went to Q (Bruce Fraser), our assistant coach, to try to get some help. We all swung and missed.
“But to me it wasn't anything that was going to keep me out. Coach made a decision, regardless of what I had to say, to send me out. Obviously, we had a nice lead to work with, which is helpful. But as a competitor, I was ready to go back in and give them what I had.”
Curry iced the ankle afterward, but appeared to be moving well as he made his way to the postgame interview room.
“Gotta be (worried),” Warriors forward Draymond Green told USA TODAY Sports. “I haven’t heard much at all, and we won’t know much until tomorrow or the next day. But you’ve got to be worried, though. That’s our guy. It’s playoff time, and you don’t want to lose anybody to injury. But at the end of the day, if he’s not able to go, other guys have got to step up.”
As Green noted, the Warriors have beaten Houston without Curry before. On Dec. 31, 2015, they downed the Rockets 114-110 while Curry sat with a bruised lower leg. Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson had 38 points in that Curry-less win over the Rockets.
