The Golden State Warriors suffered a tough loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday night in the return of Stephen Curry, who came off the bench after his injury, but still delivered a strong performance, as Steve Kerr pointed to how he sees him following his comeback.
Coach Steve Kerr provided an update on Curry’s process as he returned from the knee injury. “Kerr says Steph is feeling good the first day after his first game back. He’ll be right around 25 minutes again tomorrow,” Nick Friedell wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Kerr says the hope is to ramp him up a little more by the end of the week. They still haven’t decided which side of back-to-back Steph will sit.”
In the loss to the Rockets, Stephen Curry came off the bench and played 29 minutes, recording a team-high 29 points on 11-21 shooting from the field, along with four assists, two rebounds, and a steal.
How Curry felt in his return
Stephen Curry now has to focus on regaining rhythm and taking care of his body ahead of the play-in race, which will not be easy and would be a consecutive scenario considering they were in the same position last year.
Head coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors reacts.
If there was one thing for sure in the loss to Houston, the Golden State Warriors were energized to have their top player back, though there was some rust early on, as Curry admitted.
“First run was tough. Second run was great,” Curry said after the game, according to Kenzo Fukada. “It’s not as much rust as it’s the endurance. Kind of picking and choosing a little bit of your spots to maintain. It’s not like you’re going 100 miles per hour the whole time. I’m just feeling it out. But after I traveled and got my shot blocked, the first two possessions, I kind of settled in.”
Curry looks to continue ramping up his recovery in Golden State’s next NBA game on Tuesday against the Sacramento Kings. It is already difficult for the Warriors to push for the eighth seed, trying to avoid a first-round matchup against the Thunder if they get through the Portland Trail Blazers and the Phoenix Suns, or Los Angeles Clippers.
