Tragedy strikes the Warriors! They headed into tonight’s series opener against the Wolves hoping to ride the momentum of Sunday’s historic Game 7 win over the Rockets. Despite playing in enemy territory, the Bay Area team did a solid job of taking an early lead. As expected, Stephen Curry led the charge with a quick 13-point scoring outburst in just thirteen minutes. But an unfortunate series of events changed everything.

It happened during the opening minutes of the second quarter after Steph hit a nasty step-back three over Nickeil Alexander-Walker to extend his team’s lead. On the other end, he grabbed a rebound off Donte DiVincenzo’s miss and immediately began limping, favoring his left hamstring. Unwilling to give up, Steph tried to play through the pain and even hit a floater in the very next play. But he was clearly hurt. He immediately signalled the Warriors bench to sub him out.

Sure enough, Steve Kerr had no option but to call a timeout and take Curry out of the game. He limped off the floor and headed straight to the locker room. As Dub Nation feared for their superstar’s health, their concerns worsened when TNT’s Lauren Jbara announced on Live TV, “Steph Curry officially a left hamstring strain will not return to tonight’s game.” Yes, Steph was done for the night after straining his hamstring, putting the Warriors in serious jeopardy.

Obviously, Curry’s departure was a massive blow to the team as he looked in top form before he got hurt. He had already made three of his six shot attempts from deep range. Surprisingly, the Warriors’ focus was not deterred by the huge setback.

Even after Steph left, they continued their dominance and ended up outscoring the Wolves 26-11 in the second quarter. They finished the first half leading by thirteen points. And it was Draymond Green who somehow turned into an offensive juggernaut, scoring 16 points and three assists to make up for Curry’s absence. Regardless, the Warriors would be praying for their superstar guard to return soon.

Medical expert gives crucial Stephen Curry injury details and predicts expected timeline for return

While Steph was unable to make a comeback tonight, the Bay Area team will need him healthy if they wish to get past Anthony Edwards and Co. After all, Steph is their best player, who averaged 24 points and nearly six assists in the previous series. Although the Warriors are yet to give further update on his injury, renowned medical expert Dr. Nirav Pandya detailed its potential severity.

Well, a strain is some degree of tearing of the hamstring muscle. It can either be Grade 1—micro tear, Grade 2—partial tear, or Grade 3—complete tear. That, along with “location, number of hamstring muscles involved, cross sectional area involved, and degree of fluid / swelling” will help determine the timeline for Curry’s return.

According to a study by Dr. Pandya, the mean time missed by players with hamstring injury was 6 games. That would basically put Steph out for the entire Wolves series. However, Nirav believes Curry can return sooner based on the severity of the aforementioned factors. Hopefully, the injury is not too serious and we get a healthy Curry for the remainder of the series. His next chance to suit up will be on Thursday for Game 2. Prayers up!