Steph reveals severity of ankle roll in Warriors’ loss to Pels originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Steph Curry gave the Warriors and Dub Nation a scare late in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s 114-109 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans at Chase Center.
The Warriors superstar rolled his right ankle as he tried to plant his foot for a crossover dribble with 5:31 remaining in regulation and the Pelicans leading by five.
Curry spoke to reporters more than two hours after the loss, and provided a brief, encouraging update on his ankle. He missed three games last month after spraining the same ankle March 7 against the Chicago Bulls.
“I rolled it just slightly, but on the scale of all the ankle injuries I’ve had, this is definitely on the milder side, so it should be all right,” Curry said.
Despite appearing to be in obvious discomfort, Curry never left the game after rolling his ankle. In fact, he scored 13 of his game-high 33 points after the tweak.
Curry gave it everything he had to try to save the Warriors from defeat, but they came up short. The loss, combined with the Los Angeles Lakers’ win over the Memphis Grizzlies and the Sacramento Kings’ loss to the Phoenix Suns, drops Golden State to the Western Conference’s 10th seed in the NBA Play-In Tournament bracket.
The Warriors (45-36) still have a chance to finish as the No. 8 seed or the No. 9 seed, depending on how the final day of the NBA regular season shakes out Sunday. They host the Utah Jazz, while the Lakers (46-35) play the Pelicans in New Orleans and the Kings (45-36) face the Portland Trail Blazers in Sacramento.
If the Warriors win and the Kings and Lakers both lose, Golden State would jump to the No. 8 seed.
If the Warriors and Lakers both win, but the Kings lose, Golden State would move up to No. 9, ahead of Sacramento.
But the Warriors also could choose to accept whatever fate the basketball gods have for them and rest players, including Curry.
“We’ll make that decision [Saturday],” Curry said. “Or Sunday, whenever we talk about it.”
The Warriors know they are in the play-In tournament, but they also understand they won’t go very far if Curry is injured. So, they have to hope he’s right and that this ankle roll isn’t as bad as it looked.
Source Agencies
