The Golden State Warriors did beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals matchup on Tuesday night. But they have more to worry about now than celebrate.
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Steph Curry strained his hamstring in the second quarter of the game and didn’t return. However, the rest of the team picked up the slack, especially defensively, as they held the Wolves to just 88 points, their lowest total at home all year.
Although the Warriors came out with the win to take away home court advantage, all the talk after the game was about Steph and how much time he would be sidelined. Head coach Steve Kerr said after the game that he expects his superstar to miss at least Game 2 on Thursday night, though it’s anyone’s guess if he’ll be able to come back when the series shifts back to Golden State.
Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson discussed Steph’s injury on Nightcap. Their guest, Ryan Hollins, made an important point that you don’t see hamstring injuries too often in the NBA. Sharpe and Johnson were much more accustomed to seeing them on the football field, and so they weighed in on what Steph’s return date could be.
“The injury that I think, based on what I saw from Steph, that’s two weeks,” Johnson said. That was said with the assumption that it’s just a mild Grade 1 strain, to which Hollins replied, “They ain’t got two weeks.”
Sharpe was hoping that being dehydrated made the injury seem worse than it was. He hoped Steph could maybe be back in a game or two. But as of now, we don’t yet know.
Golden State was able to withstand a late push by the Wolves and get the win. But getting three more in this series without Steph will be a tall order.
Can the Warriors win this series without Curry?
Draymond Green said after the game that news of Steph’s injury was “a little deflating”, but he credited the rest of the team with upping their play to deliver the win.
Green used a superhero analogy to say that Jimmy Butler stepped up from Robin to Batman, and Buddy Hield, who followed up his 33-point masterpiece against the Rockets in Game 7 of the first-round series, with 24 points in this one. He went from Alfred to Robin, felt Green.
The Warriors won Game 1 despite shooting under 40% from the field. That’s not a recipe they can hope to replicate three more times, as it’s unlikely that the Wolves, who were just 5-29 from three in the game, will continue to be so offensively inept.
Anthony Edwards shaved the deficit from 23 down to 9 in the second half. But it was too little, too late after his 1-point performance in the first half. Wolves head coach Chris Finch challenged his best player after the game for not showing any fight early.
“What is there to talk about?” Finch asked. “You’re the leader of the team. You’ve got to come out and set the tone. If your shot is not going [in], you still have to carry the energy. If I’ve got to talk to guys about having the right energy coming into an opening second-round game, then we’re not on the same page.”
If Curry is going to miss action for an extended period, then there’s no doubt Edwards is the best player in the series. The Wolves are down 0-1, but they could have a golden opportunity ahead of them if they can only take it.
