It’s been a wild, tumultuous, and exhausting two months for the Golden State Warriors, but finally they can breathe a sigh of relief with the highly anticipated return of Steph Curry. After missing 27 games since Jan. 29 with a nagging knee injury, all signs now point to Curry rejoining the lineup as the Warriors continue the five-game homestand against their storied rival, the Houston Rockets on Sunday.
The injury was a significant setback for the Warriors, who likely would have improved their standing had he remained healthy. Instead, he was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Dubs went on a brutal 9-18 stretch, dropping from the 8th seed to the 10th seed.
Steph Curry has been back at practice for the past few days, and appears to be in good spirits. Head coach Steve Kerr gave an update on the sharpshooter’s status:
“He’s [Curry] officially listed as questionable,” Kerr said to the media on Saturday. “The plan is for him to play. He’s got to feel it tomorrow, but we’ll keep him as questionable.”
Getting Curry back is no small boost. The four-time champion has been keeping the team afloat, even more so after Jimmy Butler went down with a season-ending ACL injury. He’s averaging 27.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists in 39 games.
Steph Curry’s return was a mental battle
Dealing with the knee injury was mentally challenging for Steph Curry. He said he went through a new experience trying to find his way back during the recovery process.
Curry didn’t fully grasp the severity of the injury right away. At the time, he was ruled week-to-week and ultimately missed two months of action. He needed more than the usual time to rehabilitate and recover from the nagging injury.
“It was more of a mental thing at first,” Curry said. “I thought I was gonna be out for like a week, 10 days max. But every time I got on the court or tried to push it, there was always, I could call it a reaction. You knew it just wasn’t healing as fast as you thought. So the patience was tough, because it’s one of those injuries you really just have to let rest. There’s nothing you can push through or do on the court while it’s healing. It’s just a different experience than most injuries I’ve had… every day I wake up, the first thing you think about is how does it feel? So that unpredictability was definitely a struggle throughout the whole process and even still now, because as good as I do feel now, I hope it stays that way. It’s just a matter of getting out there and seeing it.”
However, the key to getting back into the groove is doing what he can on the court by playing more minutes. The Warriors have five games remaining, and while there’s a slim-to-none chance of making the playoffs, that doesn’t mean Curry wants to finish on such a down note. He is the X-factor for this roster. If he can return to peak, the Warriors can generate some momentum heading into the play-in games.
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