Golden State Warriors fans experienced their worst nightmare Wednesday night when guard Steph Curry suffered a broken left hand after a hard fall in the team’s 121-110 loss to the Phoenix Suns. General manager Bob Myers told ESPN that Curry will have an MRI and CT scan, and from there the team will determine if he needs surgery and what his recovery timetable will look like.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that the 31-year-old has a fracture in the second metacarpal, the bone in the hand below the index finger.
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The injury occurred with 8 minutes, 31 seconds left in the third quarter, when Curry drove to the rim and collided with Suns player Aron Baynes, who attempted to take a charge and ended up falling on top of Curry’s hand. Curry stayed on the ground for a few moments, holding his wrist, then got up and attempted to shake off the pain and stay in the game.
Soon after, the Warriors called a timeout and Curry walked to the bench. After another few moments, he headed to the locker room with Rick Celebrini, the Warriors’ director of sports medicine and performance.
Because Curry was not able to take his free throws after Baynes was called for the foul, he was not permitted to re-enter the game. Center Willie Cauley-Stein took the free throws in Curry’s absence.
“Obviously it’s been a tough start for us on many levels,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr told media after the game. “So we’re just trying to find our footing. And obviously this puts us in a tough spot. So we’ll assess it, and we’ll go from there.”
The 1-3 Warriors are already playing without Klay Thompson, who is recovering from an ACL injury in his left knee, and Kevon Looney, who is dealing with a neuropathic condition that will keep him out for at least three more games.
“It’s hard,” Warriors forward Draymond Green told The Undefeated‘s Marc Spears of Curry’s injury piled atop the defensively challenged team’s other physical woes. ” Makes things even harder. But just got to keep playing and trying to figure it out. I just wish we got one practice with our team. One practice. We didn’t even get one practice. Not a single one.”
“Just one of those things,” Kerr said of Curry’s injury. “Aron Baynes came up after the game and just wanted to know how Steph was doing. You could tell he felt really bad. It was just a random basketball play, so stuff happens.”
Photo credit: Gregory Shamus / Staff / Getty
