Stephen Curry returned to practice for the first time since suffering a strained left foot and a bone bruise four weeks ago, writes Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Today’s session focused on preparation work for the first-round series against the Nuggets. The Warriors are scheduled to scrimmage on Thursday, and coach Steve Kerr said Curry is expected to participate. Kerr added that he wants to see Curry in action during a scrimmage before the team determines whether he’ll play in Saturday’s series opener.
“He’s looking good to scrimmage tomorrow,” Kerr said. “Then we’ll take the next step. His conditioning should be good, so it’s more [of] just the training staff making the decision based on their evaluation of him.”
Golden State’s playoff fate could rest on how Curry performs in that scrimmage and how he feels afterward, suggests Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle. There’s not time for Curry to go through the normal steps of returning to action, so the Warriors have to hope his foot responds well after his first serious on-court test since he suffered the injury on March 16.
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Gary Payton II would like to re-sign with Golden State next season, but not if he can earn significantly more somewhere else, his father told Sean Deveney of Heavy.com. Payton made $1.9MM this year, and Deveney believes his next contract could be worth about $20MM over three seasons. The Warriors already have tax concerns and may not be willing to hand out another sizable salary. “I would never tell my son not to explore something that would be better or would be best for him,” Payton Sr. said. “But I think he understands that Golden State is the best situation for him if there is playing time and they get it right. But if it doesn’t work out, he knows that this is a business and he has to move on.”
- Otto Porter had a significant injury history before he signed with Golden State last summer, so the team monitored him closely all season long, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. The Warriors staff watched his minutes, rested him on back-to-backs and sat him for a few games when his back started to hurt. He hopes to be fresh for the playoffs after playing 63 games, but only averaging 22.2 minutes per night. “Training staff here has a plan,” he said. “It’s worked wonders for me.”
- The highs and lows that Jonathan Kuminga experienced during his rookie season make him an X-factor heading into the playoffs, observes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Game-1s of 7 are the least important IMO.
If a team wins 4-1, the 1 was likely the first game, then a sweep.
Not researched, just noticed
You opinion is respected but also inaccurate. Statistically speaking, and yes this is researched, game 1 wins are always important but that importance can depend on the seeding of the team. Statistically, the team which wins game 1 in the first round is more likely to advance to the second round. With higher seeded teams there isn’t much of a disparity in the difference in percentage chance to advance between winning and losing game 1 as those higher seeded teams are talented enough to rebound from a game 1 loss- example first seeded team: game 1 win means a 96% chance of advancing vs. a game 1 loss which is a 75% chance of advancing. But with a lower seeded team that disparity is much more obvious as the importance of a game 1 win is huge- example an eighth seeded team: game 1 win means a 25% chance of advancing vs. a game 1 loss which means a 3% chance of advancing.
I meant, game-1s are least important in a seven game series, compared to game-2s, game-3s, etc.
Before every game, the announcers will say that game is most crucial. But they never say any stat that supports it! They’re just building up the game, of course, but it’s funny.
The osnvs stats sound right but I would like to see which of the seven games were winners to the eventual series winner.
Kuminga needs to play and go at the basket which could get the Joker in foul trouble. They need to attack the basket and get Joker into limited minutes.
GP2 and Looney are MUST signings for W’s!
They must sign a pivot and keep looney as the third choice…just because he knows warriors system and has chemistry with the team. GP2 is also a warriors profile player…great defensive player, team oriented and although he doesnt have a strong offensive, he makes an excellent shot selection…hope they can keep him