Stephen Curry Injury Status Before Warriors Host Pelicans In Game 1

The Golden State Warriors survived the entirety of their first-round series without Stephen Curry, easily beating the San Antonio Spurs in five games. The question remains whether or not the defending champions will have to do that at all in the conference semifinals.

Golden State will host the No.6 seed New Orleans Pelicans in the second round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs. Because both teams breezed through the opening round, they won’t have to wait until next week to face off against one another.

Game 1 between the Warriors and Pelicans is set for Saturday at Oracle Arena. It will mark five weeks and a day since Curry suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain in the last game that he played. Curry will be re-evaluated Friday.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had been steadfast in the fact that Curry wouldn’t see the court in the first round. But before the Warriors clinched the series in Game 5 Tuesday night, Kerr stopped short of ruling out a return for the point guard this weekend.

For weeks, there’s been speculation that Curry would finally come back in the second round. It was clear that the Warriors wouldn’t need him against the Spurs, who were overmatched without the injured Kawhi Leonard. Golden State will face a tougher challenge in New Orleans, who had the most dominant first round of anyone when they swept the Portland Trail Blazers.

It wouldn’t be shocking to see the Pelicans give the Warriors trouble if Curry can’t make it onto the floor for the start of the series. Anthony Davis ranks first in the playoffs with 33.0 points and 2.75 blocks per game. Point guard Jrue Holiday is scoring 27.8 points per game, and both players are shooting better than 56 percent from the field.

The Warriors are being understandably cautious with Curry. They won’t have a successful season unless they win the title, and getting by the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals without the two-time MVP could prove to be difficult.

Golden State was never in trouble against San Antonio. They won the first three games of the series and there was never a need for Curry to suit up.

The schedule for Warriors-Pelicans has not been announced beyond Game 1. If Curry isn’t ready to play in the series opener, he could have a few days of rest to prepare for Game 2.