Curry comes back only to go down again
Warriors’ talisman suffers knee strain in victory
>> LOS ANGELES: All-star point guard Stephen Curry suffered a left knee strain in his first game back from an ankle injury as the under-manned Golden State Warriors beat the Atlanta Hawks 106-94 on Friday.
But no one wanted to talk about the win: all the focus narrowed on the health of two-time MVP Curry, who was injured when he collided with teammate JaVale McGee under the basket.
Curry had just returned from a sixgame absence due to an injured right ankle only to go down again.
“It is kind of a strange cruel twist of fate,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
The Warriors said Curry sprained his medial collateral ligament and was scheduled for an MRI later yesterday.
“It’s a little sombre in there. Everybody feels for Steph,” Kerr said. “He’s in good spirits. I did talk to him. He’s disappointed. That’s part of it.”
Curry’s latest injury just adds to the woes for the beat-up defending NBA champions.
Golden State were already without Kevin Durant who suffered a rib-cartilage injury last week. Curry’s backcourt sidekick Klay Thompson is rehabbing a fractured right thumb, and Draymond Green suffered a pelvic contusion in the Warriors’ loss on Monday at San Antonio.
On Friday, Curry scored 29 points before spraining his knee in the second half. Curry frowned as he hobbled to the bench with 3:09 left in the third quarter.
He sat and put his head down before going to the locker room.
“Getting close to post-season, you don’t want to see nothing like that,” Nick Young said.
Curry had rolled the ankle at Atlanta on March 2 but initially kept playing before re-injuring it again.
In other games on Friday, LaMarcus Aldridge and the San Antonio Spurs outlasted the Utah Jazz 124-120.
Aldridge had a career-high 45 points, helping San Antonio overcome Donovan Mitchell’s 35-point performance.
“[Aldridge] was ridiculous and the previous two games, too,” San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili said. “He’s carrying us. He’s just saying, ‘OK, follow me guys and we’ll be OK’.’’
After losing three straight to fall out of a postseason position, the Spurs have won six consecutive games and beat the Jazz for the first time in four contests this season.
San Antonio sit in sixth place in the Western Conference with the same record as fifth-place New Orleans, a half-game behind Oklahoma City for fourth. Utah are eighth in the West.
At Cleveland, LeBron James scored 27 points in three quarters, Kevin Love added 20 and Cleveland welcomed back three players from injury in a 120-95 victory over Phoenix.
James added nine assists and six rebounds before watching and cheering from the bench in the fourth while the Cavs rolled to an easy win with their healthiest roster in weeks. Forwards Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance Jr and Rodney Hood all returned from injuries.
Phoenix were without their top two scorers, Devin Booker (right hand sprain) and TJ Warren (left knee inflammation). But even they might not have been able to stop the Suns from losing their 10th in a row and 25th in 27 games. Troy Daniels scored 20 points, and Marquese Chriss had 19 to pace Phoenix.
At Portland, Marcus Morris scored 30 points and short-handed Boston won 105-100 to hand Portland their second straight loss following a 13-game winning streak.
Terry Rozier added 16 points for the Celtics. They are second in the Eastern Conference behind Toronto but have had to deal with recent injuries to Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown.
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum each had 26 points for the Blazers.