The ‘gut punch' of Steph's injury with Warriors' season on the brink

Not much longer after Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum let his emotions out on the Madison Square Garden floor, grabbing at his right leg and needing a wheelchair to exit the arena, Steph Curry sat on the sidelines Monday night and watched his Warriors lose a third straight game without him against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals.

Damian Lillard tore his left Achilles in the first round. The top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers have seen their best players deal with multiple injuries in the second round and are one loss away from their season ending early. Injuries aren’t why the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Timberwolves in the first round, but it was revealed after that LeBron James sustained a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee in the last game. 

They’re inevitable, and they’ve taken down other players in these playoffs. Injuries are a cruel part of the game, no matter a player’s age. Tatum is in his prime at 27 years old, but will likely miss all of next season and there’s no telling what a serious injury will do to someone’s career long term.

Listening back to the end of Curry’s first comments after his Grade 1 left hamstring strain, the sting cuts a little deeper. 

It starts with admitting that this injury is “more frustrating” than when he had to miss playoff games in the past.

“Every opportunity I have now, you don’t want it to be wasted on an injury,” Curry said.

He recognized that other players have dealt with worse injuries than him. That he’s lucky and thankful to even have an opportunity to return. Positivity has to be the main focus of long and lonely rehab days. Reality also can’t be completely ignored. 

“Injuries are always hard emotionally, just because you know none of this is guaranteed to be back in this environment or in the playoff experience,” Curry continued. 

It was how he answered a follow-up question to that answer in closing his availability that has to make watching the last three games so infuriating for him. Curry knew. 

He knew that he was feeling himself in Game 1, bouncing around Minnesota’s home court at the Target Center. He knew that the Warriors could beat the Timberwolves, and once the Warriors make it that far, he likes his chances. Curry had just rattled off 14 points in the fourth quarter 48 hours prior in Houston to again crush the Rockets’ fan base in Game 7, and he was then up to 13 points in 13 minutes against the Timberwolves. 

Steph was rhythm and flow, tapping into his powers before the pain he felt in the back of his left leg might as well have been stabbing at his heart. 

“You fight through the last two months of the season, a hard first round, you get to a Game 7 – the way that we were playing and the way that I was playing individually that first half, I was starting to feel really, really good about where we were at,” Curry said. “And then you kind of get a gut punch like that.” 

Steve Kerr said Curry was “crushed” when he saw him at halftime of Game 1. Reports have tears trickling down his face. Steph knows. 

That he’s 37 years old and greatness always has an expiration date, even as he keeps pushing back the goal posts. Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy went all-in at the NBA trade deadline, acquiring Jimmy Butler from the Miami Heat. Butler is 35, as is Draymond Green. 

This is it. Curry, Butler and Green’s contracts are all lined up through the 2026-27 season for one last run. Each year, the mountain becomes steeper to climb, and an injury is only another hurdle in the obstacle course they’re navigating at this point of their careers. 

Curry will be re-evaluated Wednesday, the same day of Game 5 with the Warriors’ backs against the wall and one loss away from the door being shut on their season. Curry never expected to play Game 5, and nobody within the Warriors is going to ask him to rush an injury as a savior. 

“We're not going to Superman this thing,” Draymond Green said. “If he's in a place where he can play, I'm sure he will. Him and Rick [Celebrini] and everybody will figure that out. But we don't need Superman.

“Gotta play the long game. If he can, we know he will. But there's no pressure. We've got to figure out how to win whether he plays or not.” 

Steph has worn the colors of Superman under his Warriors threads and tied an invisible cape countless times. He has his Robin now, but everybody knows who Batman is. Butler was brilliant in a five-point Game 3 loss that was the Warriors’ chance to steal a game and extend the series, furthering the probability Curry comes back, and wasn't the same Monday night in their Game 4 loss. 

For as great as it is to see Jonathan Kuminga regain his strength in Curry’s absence, he isn’t going to carry the Warriors past the Timberwolves. Brandin Podziemski is shooting historically bad this series, Buddy Hield’s scoring has amounted to empty points and Moses Moody has a total of six points and one made shot in the last five games. 

There’s always the possibility the Warriors defy the odds. Nothing is definitive with Curry’s injury or what will happen the rest of the series, starting Wednesday night in Minnesota. The three-day break the Warriors get between Game 5 and Game 6 could be found money for Curry’s recovery. 

Yet nothing changes the gut punch Curry, the Warriors and the rest of the basketball world is feeling right now. 

The album isn’t the same as it once was. A Steph Show, though, is still second to none.

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