Curry returns, but injures left knee
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Stephen Curry returned from a six-game absence nursing an injured right ankle only to go down again. This time, it’s his left knee.
Curry came back and scored 29 points before spraining his knee in the second half, and the banged-up, undermanned Golden State Warriors held off the Atlanta Hawks 106-94 on Friday night.
Curry sprained his medial collateral ligament and was scheduled for an MRI on Saturday, the Warriors said.
“Kind of a strange, cruel twist of fate,” coach Steve Kerr said. “He rehabs his ankle for the last couple weeks, he gets that strong and then the knee goes. So we’ll see what happens and we’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
Curry grimaced as he hopped around and made it to the bench on a tender left side with 3:09 left in the third quarter after JaVale McGee fell over and the center’s right elbow appeared to pound into Curry’s left knee.
“I was just trying to block a shot and I ran into him,” McGee said.
The two-time MVP immediately sat in a chair and put his head down before going into the locker room.
Nick Young scored 24 points with six 3-pointers for the defending champions, who were already missing their other All-Stars – Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson.
“Getting close to postseason, you don’t want to see nothing like that,” Young said.
Young, Patrick McCaw, Jordan Bell and Zaza Pachulia joined Curry in the starting lineup. Pachulia had nine rebounds, while Bell scored 12 points.
Durant missed his fourth straight game with a broken rib while Thompson sat out a fifth in a row with a fractured right thumb. Green has a pelvic contusion.
