MINNEAPOLIS — Steve Kerr, in all his profundity, couldn’t say anything as he watched the superstar he’s coached for 11 seasons succumb to the suffocating disappointment. Kerr already knew, as tears fell from Steph Curry’s eyes, the heartbreak still fresh from the news that he sprained his left hamstring. Words weren’t what Curry needed. Or what Kerr had.
So the Golden State Warriors head coach, in this halftime moment Tuesday in the visiting locker room of Target Center, didn’t even try finding the right words. He just hugged his point guard.
“That’s all I could do,” Kerr said after the Warriors won Game 1 99-88 of their second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. “I just feel so bad for him. Everything that he does. How much he cares.”
Injuries in sports are so normalized as to often obscure their cruelty. The “next man up” mentality has its way of dehumanizing broken athletes into mere expensive gadgets in need of refurbishment.
But that’s not possible with Curry and the Warriors. Too much has been poured into this opportunity, too much invested by the face of this franchise for this not to be felt.
This is far from Curry’s first rodeo with injuries. But this is about more than an untimely injury. More than having to deal with the delicateness of a hamstring, ever easy to reaggravate.
This is about clawing back to relevance, clinging to faith against looming realities, overcoming every disappointment and being viable again.
The Warriors waited two years to get back here, in the mix again. So much plotting and planning on how to reconfigure the roster, managing the current potential and the responsibility to the future. Summoning patience amid mediocrity. So much change. So much loss. So many frustrations. So many reasons to let go, lean into the next generation.
But Curry kept his foot in the championship door. All the work it takes for him to remain good enough. All the strength it took to hold on, to carry more. All the faith it took to muster the optimism that they could find their way.
And they were doing it. They did it.
That’s why they’re vowing to fight. It’s going to take all they have to beat a now-embarrassed Timberwolves squad without Curry. But they got through the season with depth. They got through Houston in the first round with resilience. It’s going to take at least that to get through Minnesota.
And lots of Jimmy Butler, who is here because of Curry.
But the Warriors have to find a way. Or die trying. Curry deserves as much. He’s 37. These last couple of years are proof of how fleeting these opportunities are becoming. Who knows how far they could go, whether their championship belief is delusional or warranted. But they can’t let this end with a hamstring.
“It’s super motivating,” Kevon Looney said. “He’s carried a lot of us on his back to the highest level. He set a high standard, and you just want to kind of follow that. He knows we got his back. However long it’s gonna be, we’re gonna go out there and fight and try to win.
“We ain’t gon’ put our heads down. We know how to fight. We know how to be the men at war.”
When Curry iso’d against Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the second quarter Tuesday, a series of between-the-leg dribbles and a step-back preceding a rainbow 3-pointer, it sure felt like the Warriors were back. As underdogs, for sure, but terrifyingly formidable. After a grueling seven-game series against Houston, they looked ready for Minnesota.
The Warriors put their feet on the Timberwolves’ couch. And the Warriors did it with Curry only playing 13 minutes. With Curry on the floor? Minnesota might be in trouble, and Golden State in the Western Conference finals feels more real.
All of that changed after a sudden stop, plant and jump by Curry, who was attempting to get in the way of a Mike Conley Jr. pass. Curry reached back for his left hamstring with 9 minutes, 6 seconds left in the second quarter while continuing to play defense. He hobbled as he dribbled up the court.
What he must’ve been thinking, the conversation he was having with himself, as a pain and restriction he’d never felt before, wouldn’t go away.
Curry persisted and ran their offensive set. He fidgeted more with the back of his leg after dumping the ball to Draymond Green in the post, then curled off a Buddy Hield screen into a floater from the right elbow.
Curry signaled to the bench to take him out of the game after putting Golden State ahead 27-20 with 8:48 remaining. He’d play one more offensive possession, drawing a double-team and assisting on Green’s second of four 3s in the second quarter, before a Minnesota timeout got him out of the action.
On the court, as the teams dispersed for the timeout, Curry told Green he’d be fine and then walked straight to the locker room, not even detouring to the trainers first. He jogged down the hall, trying to will this to be something he could get through.
But this is happening. An adversity his will can’t overpower.
And hamstring injuries are tricky. After an MRI on Wednesday revealed a Grade 1 hamstring strain, the team stated in a release that it will reevaluate Curry in a week, which means he will likely miss at least the next three games.
They aren’t the kind of injuries one can play through. They must be given time to heal or they linger, worsen. The first five games of this series each have only one day of rest between them. The Warriors will get three days off before Game 6. That would be 11 days of treatment and recovery.
“It’s tough,” Butler said. “One of the greatest to ever do it, and he wants to be out there. I think he knows, and we know, how much easier the game is for us whenever he’s hooping at a high level. But I think we’re all prepared to compete and win without him. We don’t want to, but we are prepared and we may have to.”
But the reality of hamstrings suggests the Warriors need to find one more win in this series to get this to a Game 6, giving Curry the benefit of those days off.
Or, they might need to win this series without him. Otherwise, all that went into getting to this moment will be spoiled.
A few in this locker room have been through this before.
In 2016, Curry slipped in the second quarter of Game 4 in a first-round series against Houston. Those were the 73-9 Warriors expecting to cruise to back-to-back championships. History hung in the balance while waiting on his MRI — a Grade 2 sprain of his left MCL — and his return. Curry missed Game 5 and the first three games of the next series. He was never fully recovered, but well enough to battle.
That the Warriors did. Green and Klay Thompson held it down until he got back. Curry came off the bench when he returned, against an inferior Portland squad, and was ice cold from 3. He went off in overtime, scoring a record 17 points, his famous “I’m Back!” game. Then he proceeded to play 14 games over the next two series, and Golden State rallied back from a 3-1 deficit against Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals but then blew a 3-1 lead to Cleveland in the NBA Finals.
“It helps that we’ve been through this before,” Green said. “You can lean on those experiences. We’re gonna hold him down. We’ve got to. It helps that we got Game 1. And it helps that we have Jimmy Butler.”
This déjà vu wasn’t comforting for Curry on Tuesday night. He’s older now. Less resilient to ailing muscles and ligaments. Which is why he trains so hard to handle the load he carries.
Now the burden is psychological. Before halftime ended, Curry had to find his perspective. He had to resume his position as leader. Which meant wiping the tears away, putting on a brave face, uplifting his teammates and talking about what he was seeing.
After the game, in the chaos of victory in the locker room, Curry sat still, smiling at whatever he was hearing through his blue earpieces. Eventually, he got up and, after a brief exchange with Gary Payton II, walked out of the locker room. Gingerly. The Warriors’ hopes tied to the hamstring he’s favoring.
His return is all up to his teammates now, and the spirit of grind they’ve built over the last three months. They’ve got to buy him time with wins. So this grueling season, with its many turns and its endless sacrifices, doesn’t end like this.
(Photo of Steph Curry: Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)
