In the final minutes of a physical and grueling encounter last night in Boston, Stephen Curry took an Al Horford on the foot and as you can imagine, it never feels good. Fortunately, if we are to believe the words of the sniper following the match, we avoided the worst. In any case, we hope…
For a few seconds, the world stopped for Warriors fans, for basketball fans for that matter. We’ll do it once more for those who weren’t in front of their screen tonight. There are just over four minutes left in the last quarter. After a missed shot by Jayson Tatum, the ball drags and everyone struggles to get the rebound. Stephen Curry finds himself in the middle of the fray, notably in the company of an Al Horford who will involuntarily fall on the foot of the Splash Brother before a sixth foul from Draymond Green put an end to it all. As the TD Garden audience explodes as Marcus Smart finally manages to secure the inflate, the damage is there on the Warriors side as Steph remains on the ground for long seconds, grimacing in pain. At that point, we say to ourselves that we may be in front of a big turning point in these NBA Finals. The images that follow are however reassuring because Curry remains in play for the next possessions, before finally going out at -14 in the score, the scenario of the match then not leaving much room for suspense. Reassuring images that will be reinforced by the words of Steph in press conference post-match.
“It will be fine. […] Of course I’m in a bit of pain, but I’ll be fine. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow and then we’ll have to prepare for Friday’s game.
It’s the same as once morest Denver or once morest Boston in the regular season, less serious. […] I don’t feel like it’s going to force me to miss a game. We will have to use the next 48 hours to prepare well. »
As a reminder, it was also once morest Boston in mid-March that Steph injured his foot during a scrum involving Marcus Smart. Then the victim of a sprained ligament, the best shooter in history had missed all the rest of the regular and then returned for the first round of the Playoffs once morest the Nuggets. According to Curry’s words, we are on a relatively similar injury, but with a lesser degree of severity. So let’s hope it’s fully operational for Friday’s Game 4 (already!)although coach Steve Kerr refused to come forward: “We will know more tomorrow” said the Golden State coach, who is well aware that an absence of Curry would most likely condemn the Warriors in these NBA Finals. With their backs to the wall following tonight’s loss, the Dubs really have no choice but to win at TD Garden in Round 4 if they want to avoid finding themselves on the edge of the precipice. And there really isn’t a scenario where Golden State wins once morest this Boston team without a Curry at his top level, he who runs in the first three games at an average of 31.3 points with more than 48% shooting success and almost 49% from the parking lot.
By tomorrow night, we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that Stephen Curry is fresh and ready for Game 4. The series probably plays out Friday at TD Garden, and the Warriors won’t be able to survive if Steph can’t from Steph. We had proof of this last night, when the big performance of the Splash Brother was insufficient in the face of the physical and athletic dimension of the Greens.
