Getty Stephen Curry and Juan Toscano-Anderson of the Golden State Warriors celebrate during a game against the Utah Jazz.
Golden State Warriors fans have been waiting with bated breath to see whether Stephen Curry would be available for the team’s playoff opener against the Denver Nuggets. On Friday, they received another major indication that the wind was blowing in the right direction for the two-time MVP.
As of the league’s 3:30 pm ET injury report, Curry is listed as a probable participant in Saturday’s Game 1 showdown with Nikola Jokic and Co.
In effect, the update serves as an official confirmation of what had been widely reported by league insiders over the last 24 hours or so: that Steph was going to be on the court when the Warriors began their push for another NBA championship.
That said, fans looking for him to play 35-plus minutes and drop 40 points in the contest would do well to pump the brakes, as Curry continues to be in something of a ramping-up process
Curry Will Be on a Minutes Restriction
Reports out of the Warriors’ Thursday scrimmage have indicated that Curry looked good while doing his thing on the court. And the baller himself has said that he’ll absolutely be ready to play when he’s officially given the go-ahead to do so.
That said, the fact remains that the 34-year-old hasn’t appeared in an actual game since suffering a sprained left foot ligament on March 16 against the Boston Celtics. And he only just returned to practice this week. As such, fans can expect a minutes restriction to be in place upon his return.
“I don’t know what the number is, but he’s not playing 30, 35 minutes,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said on Thursday. He made similar statements the following day while noting that he expects Steph to be available for Game 1.
Kerr further revealed that Curry played “three six-minute segments” during the Dubs’ scrimmage and looked good in doing so. However, he still conceded that there’s still work left to be done.
“He’ll have challenges, like anybody would, but he’s such a diligent worker. He’s been working so hard on his conditioning and his rhythm the last couple weeks,” Kerr said. “His conditioning looks good; I’d be more concerned about just timing. Any time you have an absence, you’ve got to shake off some cobwebs.”
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Rapper Places Massive Bet on Dubs to Win the West
Multi-platinum selling rapper Drake may be the ultimate Toronto Raptors superfan, but he’s clearly feeling some type of way about the Warriors’ title pursuit. On Thursday, he revealed via Instagram story that he had placed a massive bet on the Bay Area crew to escape the Wild West.
The recording star apparently threw down a whopping CA$200,000 on Golden State to advance to the NBA Finals, a wager that could net him a cool million if Steph and the boys come through on the court.
“Such an unpredictable year…” he wrote over a screen capture of the wager. “Can I see the future?” Dub Nation clearly hopes he can.
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