After overcoming the Rockets in a seven game first round thriller, the Warriors were high on confidence heading into the Wolves series. Everything was going according to plan, for like a quarter and a half of Game 1. Then, Stephen Curry got injured. He was forced to miss majority of the first game and was later diagnosed with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain, ruling him out for at least a week. And the Bay Area team were left with no choice but to play without Steph and hope that Wolves do not eliminate them before he returns.

As Dub Nation continues to pray for Steph’s speedy recovery, veteran reporter Shams Charania revealed the latest on his injury with some mixed updates. The good news is “Stephen Curry is back in San Francisco and he is receiving a ton of treatment on that hamstring strain.” However, a comeback still seems far away, “There is still plenty of work to be done to get him to the point of movement, contact, running, sprinting and he’ll be re-evaluated on Wednesday.”

Amid Curry’s absence, the Warriors’ goal is to win at least one of the two home games and extend this series to Games 6 or 7. That seems like a tall task, as they got absolutely dominated without Steph in Game 2. “Internally, there is uncertainty and I’m told the Warriors are really looking at that Game 6 as the earliest potential window for Stephen Curry’s return.” Charania added. So, there are still at least three more games Steve Kerr’s squad needs to stay afloat without the Baby-Faced Assassin.

Another bad news is that Steph has no prior experience of dealing with this issue, as Charania highlighted, “This is the first muscle strain of this kind in his 16-year NBA career, so there is gonna be a level of caution with this injury.” So, that makes his recovery even more uncertain. Based on the expected timeline, if Curry returns for Game 6, he will have rested for twelve days from the day he got injured. And as much as it is killing him to not play these games, Steph is giving his hamstring the required time to heal.

Stephen Curry’s injury too risky to push through as Steve Kerr prepares to “adapt” amid adversity

In Game 2, Steph looked heartbroken sitting on the sidelines, watching his team get blown out by Anthony Edwards and Co. It was clear how much he wanted to step on the court and take matters into his own hands. However, his injury is not something you can just push through, like he did with the pelvic contusion during the regular season. Addressing the issue, he said, “This is new. And from all that I’m learning about how quickly you can get back, there has to be a healing process. That’s just how your body works, and you can’t accelerate it more than what it is telling you.”

He continued, “It’ll be one of those (injuries), after a week, really evaluating every day to kind of understand when it’s safe just to even think about playing. Let alone, how much can you push it?” Only Wednesday’s re-evaluation will tell when Steph can be back on the floor. If it looks too risky, he might not even make it in Game 6.

Understanding that possibility, Steve Kerr is already diving into Plan B. “We’re in that room right now talking about how we are going to approach it. What the lineups will look like. It’s all part of it. Every year, the playoffs are about adapting, whether it is a game plan or an injury or lineup. We just have to adapt. We have done this before and we are confident we can do it again.” He said, following Curry’s injury. Now, the pressure is on Jimmy Butler and Co. to keep this series alive until there is further update on Steph’s return. Do you think they can do it?