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Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry broke his silence on being diagnosed with a Grade 1 left hamstring strain, which will force him to miss Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Curry, 37, called the situation a "gut punch" but said he wouldn't rush back, acknowledging the "tricky" nature of hamstring injuries.
"This is new, and from all that I'm learning about how quickly you can get back, there has to be a healing process," Curry said during the Warriors' shootaround ahead of Game 2 on Thursday (May 8) via ESPN. "You can't accelerate it more than what it's telling you. So it'll be one of those, after a week, really reevaluating every day to understand when it's safe just to even think about playing, let alone how much can you push it."
Curry is expected to miss at least one week, however, his return timetable has not yet been determined, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
"Golden State's Stephen Curry has sustained a Grade 1 left hamstring strain and will be ruled out for Game 2 against Minnesota on Thursday, sources tell ESPN. It's the first strained muscle of Curry's career, so exact return timetable is unclear due to first rehab like this," Charania wrote on his X account. "The Warriors expect Stephen Curry to miss at least one week with the Grade 1 left hamstring strain, sources tell ESPN. An exact return will be based on how their All-NBA guard responds to rehab with his first muscle strain."
Curry suffered the injury during the second quarter of the Warriors' eventual 99-88 win against the Timberwolves Tuesday (May 6) night on a driving 14-foot floater. The four-time NBA champion finished Game 1 with 13 points, one assist and one rebound in 13 minutes.
"He's obviously crushed," said Steve Kerr after the game via ESPN. "But the guys picked him up and played a great game, and obviously we're all concerned about Steph but it's part of the game."