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Kendra AndrewsESPN
INDIANAPOLIS — Stephen Curry will receive an MRI Thursday in Philadelphia after injuring his left shoulder in the Golden State Warriors’ 125-119 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.
Curry was injured with 2:04 left in the third quarter after attempting to strip the ball off Indiana’s Jalen Smith as Smith went for a field goal.
Curry immediately grabbed his left shoulder and continued to hold it as he ran down the field. The Warriors later called a timeout and Curry was watched by two coaches on the bench.
Minutes later, Curry returned to the locker room with Golden State head coach Rick Celebrini. He was officially barred from the game in the fourth quarter.
“I checked in with [Curry] briefly but I haven’t had a chance to go into detail,” Kerr said. “Steph is always a guy with a big outlook on life, so he’s in a good mood.”
In the locker room after the game, Curry was seen sitting at his locker with his left shoulder wrapped in ice, eating and laughing with teammates. After clearing the ice, Curry didn’t seem to use his left arm much for mundane tasks, like getting items from his locker or opening doors.
Before exiting the game, Curry was doing everything in his power to keep the Warriors fighting the Pacers. Before walking off the field at halftime, Curry stood under the hoop for a minute, hunched over with his hands on his knees and breathing heavily.
He scored half of the Warriors’ first half points, scoring 27 points in the first two quarters.
Curry finished with 38 points — nearly half of the Warriors’ 80 points at the time of his injury — on 11-of-19 shooting, including five 3s and a perfect 11-of-11 from the free throw line.
“It was just stunning,” Kerr said. “He had us on his back in the minutes he was out there. Generating so much attack, getting on the line, getting the ball to other people. It was brilliant.”
During the first half, anyone not named Curry in a Warriors uniform struggled. Kerr said the team felt “bad about themselves” and weren’t channeling the correct mindset to get out of the slump.
Losing Curry for an extended period of time, even for just a few games, would add further complications to a team that has struggled to find consistency under a new rotation and has found little success on the road (2-13 outside of Chase Centro). Right now, the Warriors’ woes — lineup-wise — are extending to their starters as well.
Jordan Poole scored 20 points against the Pacers, but did so on 8-of-22 shooting. Draymond Green finished with only one point, two rebounds and six turnovers before being ejected in the fourth quarter after committing two technical fouls.
The Warriors were also without Andrew Wiggins, who missed his fifth straight game with a hamstring strain, and Klay Thompson who rested the second night of Golden State’s back-to-back game.
“This was a tough stretch what if [Curry is] it will definitely get harder,” Kerr said. But we must persevere. You keep playing and you keep fighting. It’s a long season. The thing I’m confident about is that if we’re healthy, we feel we can beat anyone.”
