Warriors point guard Stephen Curry sprained his left ankle late in Golden State's upset road win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of their first round series, and now the pain could force Curry to watch Game 3 from the bench.
Curry was asked how it would feel to be out of action for his first home playoff game and he responded by saying, "It would kill me." Curry is part of a sweet-shooting backcourt with Klay Thompson that head coach Mark Jackson called "The best shooting backcourt in NBA history," after the Game 2 win.
Jackson has jokingly said, ''I told our trainer Chad (Bergman) he could be the MVP of this series,'' in reference to his ability to keep Curry on the floor. Curry is by far the Warriors' best player and the engine of their offense. Curry averaged 22.9 points per game this season and drilled 3-pointers at a 45 percent rate. Through two postseason games he's up to 24.5 points and a 46.5 3-point percentage. He hung 30 points on the Nuggets in Game 2 and supplemented that with 13 assists.
Nuggets head coach George Karl knows it is essential for the Nuggets to contain Curry if they are to stave off an upset in Round 1. ''In Game 1, we did a very good job on him. He started getting loose in the second half and almost beat us. Game 2, he got loose and he beat us.'' Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson, battling a sore heel himself, described the difficulty of staying in Curry's face and not allowing him to get clean looks.
'When he's coming off screens, he's pretty tough,'' Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson said. ''This is probably the only player I've played against all year point guard-wise that I've had to chase off screens.''
Curry said he expects to play tonight, but is unsure how the ankle will hold up. Still, with or without Curry it should be a raucous crowd for the first playoff game in Golden State since 2007. ''I expect, as soon as we come out for the warm-ups, that it's going to be a noticeable difference from a regular-season game,'' Curry said. ''We have some of the loudest fans, if not the loudest fans in the league, but throughout the course of the game there's ups and downs. I have a feeling it's going to be pretty consistent.''
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