26 Apr 2016

Big blow to Golden State

11:32 am on 26 April 2016

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry is expected to miss several weeks of the NBA playoffs, after an MRI revealed a Grade One MCL sprain in his right knee.

Stephen Curry was against to the fore for the Golden State Warriors.

Stephen Curry was against to the fore for the Golden State Warriors. Photo: Photosport

He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Curry tweeted: "Thanks 4 all the prayers & messages. Can feel all the positive energy. God is Great! All things considered I'm Gonna be alright!"

The injury means Curry will miss the rest of the Warriors' first-round series against the Houston Rockets and perhaps a good portion of their second round, most likely against the Los Angeles Clippers.

And there is no guarantee that after two weeks, he will be able to return to action right away.

Curry suffered the injury on the last play of the first half of Game Four on Sunday at Houston and was diagnosed with a sprained right knee by the team's medical staff on site.

Curry slipped on a wet spot while guarding Trevor Ariza at the first-half buzzer and banged his right knee on the floor. He grabbed the knee and limped off to the locker room.

Curry returned to the court after halftime and moved laterally to test the joint but shook his head toward the bench and returned to the locker room. He was ruled out just after the second half began.

The Warriors look to close out their best-of-seven, first-round series against the Rockets on Wednesday.

Curry missed Games Two and Three with a right ankle injury. He returned to the starting lineup for Game Four and missed 7 of 9 shots in the first half, shooting just 1 of 7 on 3-pointers while pairing six points with five assists in 18 minutes before suffering the knee injury.

"I thought his movement looked good. His conditioning was better than I expected," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Curry after the game. "And then he slips on the wet spot unfortunately, and back to square one.

"When you have a team that is as together as ours is and cares about each other like ours does, you tend to pick up the fight a little bit. Our guys sensed that we needed to come together."

-Reuters