Curry gears up for Game 4 following painless practice
Stephen Curry hit a 3-pointer, caught a basketball, hit another 3-pointer, caught another ball, hit another 3-pointer.
This went on for several minutes after Golden State finished practicing at the Toyota Center on Saturday afternoon.
Curry was going through his routine, readying himself for Game 4 on Sunday. The NBA’s reigning MVP is expected to play after missing Games 2 and 3 with a sprained ankle. ‘I feel good’
Curry went through 3-on-3 drills Friday at practice, then went full-court 5-on-5 Saturday in preparation to play.
“I feel good,” he said. “It was a good practice and I was able to do everything. I like where I’m at right now.”
The Warriors lead the series 2-1 heading into Sunday’s game. Curry wanted to play in Game 3, but team doctors and his coaches weren’t willing to take the risk. After a couple days of practice and conditioning, though, they feel confident that Curry is ready.
Barring any setbacks before the afternoon start, Curry will rejoin his teammates.
“He has no pain and was able to go through everything yesterday and today, so I expect him to be out there,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Kerr may adjust Curry’s minutes based on his conditioning.
“We may have to alter the substitutions and get him out earlier depending on his wind,” Kerr said.
Curry has tried to stay as active as possible while injured and hopes he won’t struggle too much to return to game speed.
“I have done a few things the last few days to stay in decent shape,” he said. “Obviously, you can’t simulate a playoff intensity, but I think all the work I’ve done over the course of the season will hopefully keep me as close to what I was a week ago as possible. And then hopefully, I will be able to find my second wind pretty quick tomorrow. I don’t foresee my conditioning being an issue going forward.” Learning from bench
Curry said he was able to pick up a few things about his team and the Rockets while he was forced to watch rather than play in the last two games.
“It’s about how we play and how they responded,” he said. “If we take care of the basketball and make the simple play, we usually find open shots and have a good rhythm to what we are doing. In Game 3, I was watching in the back and we had a lot of turnovers, a lot of jumbled possessions that fueled their offense, especially in this building. You can’t give them life. You let the crowd in the game and they did a great job obviously of doing that.”
In Game 1, Curry scored 24 points after only playing 20 minutes. In two other games against the Rockets this season, he scored 35 points and 25 points. His teammates say his impact in the game is crucial in the playoffs.
“This is a must-win game,” guard Klay Thompson said. “Wedon’t want to come back to Houston. It definitely helps to have the MVP back.”