OAKLAND, calif. — NBA star Stephen Curry was expected back on the court for more shooting Monday to test his sprained right knee, still with the hope that he could be ready to play in Game 3 of the Golden State Warriors’ Western Conference semifinal series at Portland on Saturday.
Coach Steve Kerr said Monday that the league’s reigning MVP wouldn’t be available for Tuesday’s Game 2, with the Warriors up 1-0 in the best-of-seven series after a 118-106 victory in the opener Sunday.
“I’ll just say he’s doubtful just so we give everybody something to chew on,” Kerr joked. “He’s not playing (in Game 2), but he’s doubtful.”
The Warriors didn’t have a formal practice Monday, instead meeting to watch game film and to hoist a few shots. Curry didn’t take any shots during the portion of the session that the media could watch.
“We have a huge break between Game 2 and Game 3. Hopefully we can get our MVP back,” said Warriors center Andrew Bogut.
Curry, who averaged 30.1 points and 6.7 assists in the regular season, suffered the knee injury during a Game 4 first-round victory at Houston on April 24 when he slipped on a wet spot just before halftime. Curry also dealt with an ankle injury in the first round and had just returned from that when he got hurt again. In the first seven quarters without him since the knee injury, the Warriors outscored their opponents by 80 points.
“Thursday (at practice) we will definitely get up and down (the court) and hopefully he’ll be able to take part,” Kerr said of Curry. “We had the same situation in Houston. We wanted to get him back. We got two days of work in and you could see that he was rusty. … We can’t let the series score determine whether we bring him back.”
