Stephen Curry isn’t going to try to “be Superman” and force his way back to the Golden State Warriors for Game 5. As he told ESPN on Monday night after a Game 4 Warriors’ loss to the Wolves in the Western Conference semifinals, “Even if I wanted to be Superman, I couldn’t.”
The Wolves are now up 3-1 in the series, one win away from advancing to take on either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference championship round. However, if Golden State can win Game 5 — not an impossibility even without Curry, given they lost by just seven points, 117-110, on Monday — then their top scorer would get additional time to heal his hamstring. With three days separating Games 5 and 6, a Game 5 win could very well turn the series around, assuming Curry’s hamstring can respond well enough, fast enough.
Curry has not been allowed to perform any basketball-related activities, not even stationary shooting. On Thursday, as his teammates practiced before Game 2, Curry told reporters that, “It’s hard to really predict this stuff is what I’m learning. There were no, like, warning signs or any weird feelings. I felt great the whole game up until that point. And then I made a little pivot move on defense and felt something.” Curry would go on to say that playing with the hamstring strain would have simply made the injury worse, which is why he’s completely shut down while it heals.
Can the Golden State Warriors hold on for Stephen Curry’s possible Game 6 comeback? | Speak
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If the Warriors are going to force a Game 6, though, they will need more out of Jimmy Butler than they got in Game 4. Butler, who was reportedly under the weather but played through it according to teammate Draymond Green, scored just 14 points on nine shots. In Game 3, however, Butler scored 33 points, but that wasn’t enough, even in conjunction with Jonathan Kuminga’s 30, as just one other Warrior even made it to double-digit scoring, and two others reached five points. Which led to the Wolves winning 102-97, despite Butler-Kuminga combining for 63 points themselves.
Anything can happen if Golden State can force a Game 6. Curry’s hamstring might be healthy by Sunday, giving the Warriors a shot to push the series to seven games. Minnesota has won by a combined 12 points in Games 3 and 4, but the hurting they put on Golden State in Game 2, when they won 117-93, still looms large.
Curry will be reevaluated on Wednesday, prior to Game 5. The Wolves, up 3-1, will host the Warriors at 9:30 p.m. ET.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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