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Curry, 34, suffered the injury in a scramble for a loose ball with Boston Celtics center Al Horford. With roughly four minutes remaining in Boston’s 116-100 victory, Horford landed on top of Curry’s left leg. Curry stayed on the court and appeared to be in some pain, but he continued playing briefly before he was pulled from the action with the win in hand for Boston. The eight-time all-star departed TD Garden on Wednesday with a slight limp.
Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said Thursday that he “didn’t have any details” on Curry’s foot injury, adding that he “expected” the two-time MVP to play in Game 4. Golden State chose not to go through a typical practice Thursday, with Kerr noting that his “high-minute” players would solely be undergoing “treatment and recovery.” Curry wasn’t wearing any protective braces on his feet or ankles at Thursday’s media session, and he indicated he hadn’t undergone extensive testing on the injury.
Curry’s health looms as a potential deciding factor in the series: He has led his team in scoring in all three Finals games, the Warriors have struggled to find consistent secondary scoring, and the Celtics have tried to target him on defense as the series has unfolded. Mobility is also crucial to Curry’s game; he moves constantly off the ball and has logged increased minutes in the Finals.
“We just need to help Steph in general,” Warriors guard Klay Thompson said. “He’s been incredible this series. We’ll all do our best. I think we’ll respond. I think we’ll come correct tomorrow. We still have an opportunity to even out the series.”
Curry, who is seeking the fourth title of his career, has averaged a team-high 26.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists in the postseason. During the regular season, Golden State went 45-19 with Curry in the lineup and 8-10 without him. After Curry ranked third leaguewide in plus-minus during the regular season, the Warriors are plus-87 when Curry has been on the court and minus-9 when he has been off the court in the playoffs.
With his franchise player’s status suddenly in question, Kerr lamented that the injury occurred because the Warriors were unable to secure a defensive rebound, as Celtics guard Marcus Smart and forward Robert Williams III kept the play alive with deflections. In Game 3, Boston outrebounded Golden State 47-31, claimed 15 offensive rebounds and tallied 22 second-chance points.
“[Curry] was involved in the pileup,” Kerr said. “We missed like three box-outs on the play. That’s sometimes what happens. You give up an offensive board that leads to an offensive advantage. In this case, it led to a scrum. The rebounding was a big issue last night for us. We’ve got to clean that up.”
The sight of Curry down on the court in pain brought back bad memories for the Warriors — he suffered a left foot sprain during a March game against the Celtics. On that play, Smart landed awkwardly on top of Curry, who was sidelined for a month because of the injury.
Curry said he quickly realized this latest injury wasn’t as serious, but he noted that both occurred on “identical-type plays.”
“As soon as you started to take a couple of steps, you know whether you can run normal and cut normal,” Curry said. “Back then, I couldn’t. [In Game 3], I could. … When I did it in the regular season, I knew right away that something was severely wrong. [Wednesday] night, I knew I was hurt, but it was not as bad. I could gauge whether I should stay out there or not and not do any more damage. That’s why I’m very confident I’m going to play [Friday] and keep it moving.
“It’s the same foot and all that. There’s a comfort knowing that I have been through all that before, but you would rather not deal with something like that at this point in the season.”
Boston holds a 2-1 series lead, and Curry’s injury comes at an inopportune point of the series — there is only one day off between Game 3 and Game 4. Earlier in the series, the schedule included two days off between games. There also will be two off days between Game 4 and Game 5 as the series shifts back to San Francisco.
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