Just as Steph Curry was ready to put his right ankle injury behind him, he slipped in the closing seconds of the first half of Sunday’s Game 4 against the Houston Rockets and sprained his right knee.
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Now facing a 3-1 deficit, the Rockets will have to win on the road in Oakland, a place the Warriors have lost just twice all year, if they want to extend their season.
Any team with a realistic understanding of its limitations would be questioning its chances of survival without its best player. Said Howard. “We’re going to try and win”. “We both just patted him on the back and. there wasn’t much to say”. So now we’ll see just how far this team’s outsized confidence can carry it.
Draymond Green was having none of that.
“He still wanted to play and we wouldn’t let him”. Klay Thompson made four of his seven threes in the third as the Warriors made a franchise playoff-record eight in that quarter en route to an National Basketball Association playoff-record 21. Depending on the severity of Curry’s injury, this maybe the game where the Warriors’ playoff dreams died or faced a catastrophic setback.
Curry slid awkwardly to the court while defending on the last play before halftime and immediately grabbed his knee.
Everybody wearing a Warriors jersey Sunday afternoon realized the second half of Game 4 against the Rockets was their moment of postseason crisis, and that their response would speak volumes about their capability without Stephen Curry. He’ll have an MRI on Monday.
“But I thought his movement looked good and his conditioning was better than I expected and then he slips on the wet spot and unfortunately back to square one”.
Thompson ignited the run with a 3 at the 10:15 mark for a 64-57 lead.
Teague, who started the game 1 for 10 from the floor, had only 13 points, but he made a 3 with 50 seconds left to make it a one-point game and another with 21 seconds to play to give the Hawks the lead. Thompson added another trey for an 89-74 lead. It will truly be Golden State against the world again, similarly to how they took the league by storm a season ago. The third quarter started tied 56-56, and ended with the Warriors up 97-76.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in a press interview on Saturday that he would expect the Warriors’ top scorer to return from a right ankle injury for Game 4 on Sunday. The third quarter was such a spectacular stretch not just because of how well the Warriors played, but because of why they were playing that way. Thomas got open in the right corner and made a 3-pointer to give Boston a seven-point lead.
Dwight Howard posted a double-double (19 points, 15 boards) while Harden had 18 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists and seven steals.
Lance Stephenson scored 26 points off the bench for the Grizzlies.
Beasley provided the initial thrust after the Warriors built a 27-17 lead on an Andre Iguodala (22 points) 3-pointer with 1:47 left in the first quarter.
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Rockets: Howard got a technical in the third quarter when he hit Livingston. However, the odds are definitely stacked up against the Rockets and in actuality, Game 5 could very likely be the last game for Houston this season.
