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Kendra AndrewsESPN
SAN FRANCISCO — Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry was ruled out of the second half of Wednesday night’s 110-88 loss to the Boston Celtics due to left foot soreness. He underwent an MRI immediately after the game.
Asked about his level of concern surrounding Curry’s foot, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, “We’ll know after the MRI.”
Curry injured his foot at the 4:17 mark of the second quarter when his leg got rolled on by the Celtics’ Marcus Smart as the two wrestled for a loose ball.
Kerr was shown yelling at Smart after the play.
“I thought it was a dangerous play,” Kerr said. “I thought Marcus dove into Steph, and that’s what I was upset about. A lot of respect for Marcus. He’s a hell of a player, a gamer, a competitor. I coached him in the World Cup a few summers ago. We talked after the game and we’re good. But I thought it was a dangerous play.”
Smart explained that he didn’t see Curry and was just going after the ball.
“I saw the ball, I dove for the ball, trying to make a play,” Smart said. “Unfortunately that occurred.”
He added: “I’m sure I’m going to get called dirty. But I know who I am. … I play very hard and I leave everything on the court. … My teammates, my colleagues, they know I’m not a dirty player.”
After getting up, Curry tried to walk off the pain. He then was looked at on the bench during the ensuing timeout, but instead of returning to the court, he jogged back to the locker room.
His return was first labeled as questionable, but after being checked through halftime, he was downgraded to out.
Curry had just three points on 1-of-4 shooting in 14 minutes before exiting.
Warriors forward Draymond Green said he wasn’t willing to say Smart committed a “dirty play.”
“I’d expect Marcus Smart to make that play. He plays hard,” Green said. “I can’t call that a dirty play. As unfortunate as it is … maybe unnecessary, but that’s the most I can call it. Unnecessary. But I can’t call it a dirty play. The ball is on the floor. At every level of basketball we are taught to dive on the floor and go after the ball. That’s what Marcus did. So I can’t call it a dirty play. I will say it was probably an unnecessary dive.”
Curry’s injury comes just one game after the return of Green from a back injury that kept him out two and a half months. Between that game on Monday and Wednesday’s game, Curry, Green and Klay Thompson have played a total of just 11 minutes together this season. And the Warriors have yet to play a game with all five of their regular starters — Curry, Green, Thompson, Kevon Looney and Andrew Wiggins.
“Adversity hits everybody at any time, and you just roll with it and you keep moving forward,” Kerr said. “So hopefully Steph will be OK.”
Said Green: “I think any time you haven’t had the opportunity to play together, it’s a worry. Like we said before, it seems like every time we get someone back, someone else goes back. So it’s definitely a worry because one of the most important things on offense is continuity and consistency. And we haven’t been able to build that for the most part. So that is 100 percent a worry.”