Steph Curry freed from minutes restriction; Warriors mum on whether
he’ll start Game 5
All signs are pointing to the All-Star guard returning to the Warriors
starting lineup as soon as Game 5 against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday.
>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30)
dribbles against Denver Nuggets’ DeMarcus Cousins (4) in the second
quarter of Game 4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff
series at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat
V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30)
dribbles against Denver Nuggets’ DeMarcus Cousins (4) in the second
quarter of Game 4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff
series at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat
V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By MADELINE KENNEY | mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: April 26, 2022 at 3:15 p.m. | UPDATED: April 26, 2022 at 4:14
p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/04/26/steph-curry-freed-from-minutes-restriction-warriors-mum-on-whether-hell-start-game-5/

SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen Curry has been freed from his minutes
restriction and all signs are pointing to the superstar guard returning
to the Warriors starting lineup as soon as Game 5 on Wednesday.

In the name of gamesmanship, coach Steve Kerr declined Tuesday to
discuss whether Curry will start.

“I’m not answering that question,” he said after practice. “We’ll figure
it out.”

Curry and Klay Thompson also danced around the question.

>SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 16: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen
Curry (30) and Klay Thompson (11) congratulate Draymond Green (23) after
scoring against the Denver Nuggets in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of
their NBA first round playoff series at Chase Center in San Francisco,
Calif., on Saturday, April 16, 2022. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)

But with Curry being cleared to play his usual minutes in what could be
the clinching game of their best-of-five playoff series against the
Denver Nuggets, it’s hard to imagine the Warriors wouldn’t deploy the
two-time MVP at the beginning of the game, possibly taking the place of
Jordan Poole or Kevon Looney. He has come off the bench in the first
four games of the series, which the Warriors lead 3-1.

“It feels good knowing everything is moving in the right direction
managing the injury,” said Curry. “These first four games, it’s
obviously been a little different and [I tried] to make the most of it,
and it’s gone pretty well.”

Curry has seen his minutes gradually increase over the course of the
best-of-seven series as he works his way back from a foot injury that
sidelined him for the last 12 games of the regular season. He played 37
minutes in Game 4 Sunday, with only Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole on
the court more for the Warriors.

>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30)
fights for the ball against the Denver Nuggets in the third quarter of
Game 4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff series at Ball
Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay
Area News Group)

Curry, who was in for more than half of the third quarter and the entire
fourth, scored 15 of the Warriors’ final 32 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
He hit a step-back shot just shy of being a 3-pointer in the game’s
final two minutes to give Golden State a two-point advantage that the
team couldn’t hold on to.

Curry was “feeling good” after Game 4.

“My body came out fine and all that, so I’m not worried about that
moving forward,” he said.

Pain management is still something Curry and the training staff will
closely monitor as the sprained ligament and bone bruise in his left
foot continues to heal.

“Every game it gets less and less,” Curry said. “That was one of the
challenges that [Warriors director of sports medicine Rick Celebrini]
and the entire performance team were trying to get me to where I could
not, I don’t have to think about it when I’m out there — with the
minutes I want to play, it’s not going to get worse from game to game.

“We’re still on that journey even though I can bump my minutes to what
they’re usually at.”

Since his return, Curry is averaging 27.5 points per game while shooting
51.4% overall and 38.9% from beyond the arc. He’s also averaging 5.5
assists, three rebounds and 1.5 steals per game this postseason.

>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30)
takes a free-throw against the Denver Nuggets in the fourth quarter of
Game 4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff series at Ball
Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay
Area News Group)

- Free throw woes

Is the talk about whether Curry or Poole should shoot the free throw
technicals are getting to the veteran’s head? Or is this just an early
postseason fluke?

Regardless, Curry isn’t sweating his 75% free-throw shooting in the
playoffs.

Curry has struggled by his standards from the free-throw line during
this series. He shot 92.3% from the charity stripe during the regular
season, missing only 23 of his 298 attempts. It was the second-best free
throw percentage in the league, finishing just a hair behind Poole, who
secured a league-leading 92.5 percent mark on the last day of the
regular season.

But Curry has already missed eight of his 32 free-throw attempts in the
series against the Nuggets, including four in Game 4.

Curry said missing four attempts was like an “out of body experience,”
though he brushed off the errors.

“You leave it in the locker room,” Curry said. “In my head, I’m still
shooting 100% and I’m [going] to approach tomorrow the same way and it
never lingers too much.”

>DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 24: Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry (30)
takes a shot against Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić (15) in the second
quarter of Game 4 of the team’s NBA basketball first-round playoff
series at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. (Nhat
V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)

--
Madeline Kenney | Warriors reporter