Stephen Curry: Guard misses practice for precautionary reasons, but is expected to play in Game 2.
Warriors point guard Stephen Curry missed practice Wednesday morning for precautionary reasons, but acting head coach Mike Brown expects the two-time reigning NBA MVP to play in Thursday night’s Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.
“No concerns,” Brown said of Curry’s left ankle. “He’s a guy that constantly gets maintenance, which he should. Not only him, but most of our guys do. They do a good job with that. He’s definitely good to go tomorrow.”
A trainer worked on Curry’s left ankle late in the third quarter of the Warriors’ Game 1 win over Utah on Tuesday night. He returned to the game midway through the fourth quarter, only to check out 21 seconds later.
“We sat him out (Wednesday), but he could’ve gone,” Brown said. “Just like (Tuesday) night, I put him back in the game and he could’ve played. The reason I took him out so quickly had nothing to do with any injury or anything like that. It was just a matter of me looking at the score and realizing (Utah head coach) Quin (Snyder) had just taken out all of his guys and feeling like we could finish the game with him on the bench.”
After Tuesday’s 106-94 win, Curry called his in-game visit with the team trainer “routine maintenance” and stressed that it was “nothing to worry about.” He finished with 22 points on 7-for-11 shooting to go with seven rebounds and five assists.
Low turnovers: Game planning by Warriors’ opponents often starts with one item: force turnovers. Golden State, which averaged 14.6 giveaways per game in the regular season, averaged 16.3 in its 15 losses.
It is no surprise, then, that protecting the ball has been foundational to the Warriors’ postseason success. Over its past three games, Golden State has committed only 24 giveaways combined. It twice tied a franchise playoff record for fewest giveaways (seven) in Game 3 of the first round against Portland and Game 1 against the Jazz.
“I just think it’s our guys being a little more conscious of what we need to do offensively to help us get wins,” Brown said. “I’m preaching the same message; we’re doing the same thing. Our guys have just taken heed to it right now, and they’re doing a phenomenal job of really protecting the basketball.”