The Golden State Warriors have suffered a huge loss in the first half of Game 1 of their second-round series vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves as Stephen Curry has been ruled out for the remainder of the game with a strained left hamstring.
Curry got off to a fast start with 13 points in his first 13 minutes and the Warriors were clicking. After hitting a 3 on one end, Curry appeared to suffer the injury on the defensive end.
He managed to stay in the game and hit another push shot on Golden State’s next trip, but then he asked out of the game and went straight to the locker room with a noticeable limp.
The Warriors so far have managed to hang onto their double-digit lead without Curry as they went into halftime with a 44-31 advantage. The Timberwolves are having a miserable shooting game, missing all 15 of their 3-point attempts in the first half. But there is still a full half to play.
With Curry’s status in doubt moving forward, the Warriors need to seize this opportunity to bank an early win in this series if Curry is out for a couple games.
A big factor here: There is only one day of rest between each game through Game 5 of this series, so even a weeklong absence could potentially cause Curry to miss through Game 4.
The Warriors will hope for better news than that, but this is their sixth game in 11 days after a rock fight of a seven-game series in the first round with the Houston Rockets, who were extremely physical with Curry, who is 37 years old. These things add up.
Who knows if fatigue factored into this injury or if it was just a random thing. Either way, Curry is out for the rest of Game 1 and the Warriors will be holding their breath on his status moving forward.