SAN FRANCISCO — Steve Kerr and everybody else in the building breathed a deep sigh of relief Monday when they received the results of an MRI on Steph Curry’s left ankle.
“The MRI was positive, or negative, whatever, it was good,” the Warriors coach said from the podium a day after the Warriors’ star left their loss to the Clippers with 7:55 to go and didn’t return. “That’s the main thing. It’s not significant damage. He’ll miss the next couple games and we’ll see where we are.”
Curry, 36, was ruled out for the Warriors’ next two games — Tuesday and Wednesday against the Pelicans — but the scan revealed no structural damage in the left ankle he rolled twice in Sunday night’s loss to the Clippers. He was diagnosed with a left peroneal strain and will be re-evaluated Friday, the team said.
Nonetheless, their backcourt depth and scoring options will be put to the test. Kerr’s 12-man rotation could be whittled down to nine purely for health reasons.
In addition to Curry, backup point guard De’Anthony Melton was ruled out for the next two games, as well. He underwent imaging that revealed a lower back strain and will also be re-evaluated Friday. And they could also be without Andrew Wiggins, who picked up the slack in Curry’s absence with a team-high 29 points Sunday but landed on the injury report as questionable after his back tightened up late in Sunday’s loss.
“If we’re without all three, then we’ve got three guys ready to go,” Kerr said. “I think (our depth) the strength of this roster. But now we’ve got to go back it up. I’m excited to get these guys on the bench more opportunity.”
The Warriors had run with the same sizable starting five — Curry, Wiggins, Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga and Trayce Jackson-Davis — for their first three games, but Kerr said he didn’t know which group he would roll with without potentially two of its five members.
Regardless, the absences of Curry and Melton “means more playing time, for sure” for second-year guard Brandin Podziemski, Kerr said, “and for other guys as well.” Buddy Hield has been their top option off the bench, averaging 19 points per game, and Moses Moody has also been effective in his limited minutes.
“I’m excited,” Podziemski said. “We did it a bunch last year with Steph and Chris (Paul) being out some games, Klay (Thompson) and Chris being out some games. I train myself in the offseason to be ready to play 35 to 40 minutes on a given night. So I’m ready for that.”
Podziemski, who has been wearing a protective face guard, has played with the same motor as he did as a rookie but hasn’t been as effective offensively, something that could be exploited in Curry’s absence. He has made only one of his 14 3-point attempts, shooting 33.3% overall from the field and averaging 6.3 points.
“I hate it,” he said of the mask, which he said slides down his face, obscuring his vision. “As a point guard, as a guy who’s not that athletic, you use your eyes and your visions and your smarts to control the game and sometimes I can’t see out of it. Hopefully just a couple more weeks in it. … I don’t like giving excuses for why I’m missing or making shots. At the end of the day, I have to wear it and fight through it.”
With Green and Kyle Anderson acting as point forwards, the Warriors can get creative when it comes to playmaking. But Kevon Looney acknowledged the absence of their offense’s top gravitational force “kind of changes everything that we do.”
“The attention that he gets from the other team sets up our offense in the way that we play,” he said. “All the slips and all the movement. Sometimes we just kind of play random and play kind of chaotic because that’s what he thrives in. … Without him, all that random stuff won’t be there, so we’ve got to make sure that we execute our stuff and we’re calling our sets. Just make sure we’re executing.”
Curry rolled his ankle once while navigating a screen late in the third quarter Sunday, then aggravated it on the Warriors’ first offensive possession upon returning to the game. He winced and limped to the locker room and didn’t return to the bench.
The Warriors were trailing by 10 when Curry exited for good at the 7:55 mark but cut the deficit to one before falling short in the end. They were aided by Wiggins’ 11 fourth-quarter points that may not be an option Tuesday, but Warriors players were encouraged by what they saw.
“I think we just upped our intensity,” Looney said. “Steve talked about us matching their physicality at halftime. Down the stretch we were able to get a couple stops and run with the flow and the pace that we wanted to. … We have to get stops, be able to run and play the style that we want. Can’t turn the ball over. Can’t have the type of mistakes that if (Curry) were out there he might be able to overcome.”
Podziemski said the Warriors’ defensive effort was the “one thing I’m proud of most” in the loss.
“It was really good last night and it gave us a chance to win the game,” he said. “We were down 1 with three minutes to go, so we clawed our way back. Our offense is going to figure it out, but most importantly our defense has picked it up.”
Kerr, however, was not so forgiving following their first loss of the season, which came after back-to-back blowout wins on the road.
“Last night, to me, was not about the non-Steph minutes,” Kerr said. “It was just about kind of getting hit in the mouth and not responding well emotionally or execution wise. Even with that, we cut it to one late. We had every chance to win. But when you watch the film and you see literally 10 or 12 possessions where you just give the ball away, you’re not going to win that game. So, that’s the lesson.”
