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Marcus Smart has officially cemented his status as Dub Nation’s villain of the week, month (or year, maybe?) by putting Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry on the shelf during Wednesday’s loss to the Celtics.
Just when it appeared as though the Warriors were finally getting healthy and positioning themselves for a real run at another NBA championship, Smart took it upon himself to dive into Curry’s legs for a loose ball, injuring him in the process.
Although there were concerns initially about his ankles, which gave him major problems earlier in his career, or even a knee, the situation isn’t as bad as all that. Per an announcement from the Warriors on Friday, an MRI revealed that Curry has a sprained ligament in his left foot.
The former MVP will be re-evaluated in two weeks’ time. Meanwhile, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and others have reported that Steph could potentially return to the court before the playoffs start, which is obviously good news.
That hasn’t stopped Dub Nation from sounding off about the incident, though.
Twitter Responds to the Injury & the Update
Unsurprisingly, a significant portion of the Warriors fandom was breathing fire in the wake of Steph getting injured. And the post-MRI update did little to dowse the fire.
“Celtics fans making fun and defending Marcus Smart are just shameless behaviour,” declared one angry tweeter. “Losing Stephen Curry is an instant death to our championship hope this year. We load manage him all season just to [get] injured by a meaningless ‘hustle’ play?”
“Dirty play! he could have been seriously injured,” opined another unimpressed fan.
“Marcus Smart is the newest Addition to the GSW Hitlist,” wrote a third surly supporter.
“Marcus Smart you raggedy *****, count your days,” a fourth tweet read.
Others were focused on the positive, however, with one fan tweeting about the injury update: “Translation: no matter what the seed standings are, Curry will be back for the playoffs…no need to slug it out with a sore toe in the regular season.”
“Alright, so far that seems [to] be favorable news. I just hope that in these next two weeks he recovers properly to return before the end of the reg szn/before the Playoffs start,” added another member of Dub Nation. “Get well @StephenCurry30.”
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Former Baller, ESPN Analyst Says Warriors Are Done
During a Friday appearance on ESPN’s First Take, Kendrick Perkins — himself an NBA champion in 2008 with the Celtics — was asked whether Curry’s injury meant that the Warriors’ title hopes were done for. His response left little doubt about his opinion on the matter.
“Hell yeah they over,” he exclaimed. “And, look, it’s not because of the lack of playing time that Steph, Klay and Draymond has had this season. Look, these guys have played together their entire career. They know how to find the chemistry.”
As Perk sees it, uncertainty about the collective ability of Golden State’s support players to assume larger roles while Steph is on the mend is enough to write them off.
“If you’re a head coach, when you get to this period of time — when it matters the most, going into the homestretch, the last part of the season — you want to have guys knowing their roles and knowing their place,” he said.
“That’s why I say that, with Steph Curry being injured and not coming back until the playoffs, that yes… I strongly believe that the Warriors’ title hopes are done for this season.”
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