With Warriors' hopes dimming, don't count on Steph Curry to save them in Game 5

San Francisco Chronicle​

13-05-2025

Stephen Curry will not play in Game 5 Wednesday night in Minneapolis when his Golden State Warriors make what could be their last stand for this season… and maybe forever.
Call it a hunch-plus.
The Minnesota Timberwolves lead this Western Conference semifinal series 3-1, so the Warriors desperately need Curry, and vice versa. But his left hamstring just isn't listening.
Officially, Curry will be re-evaluated sometime Wednesday, then a decision will be made – go or sit. He will sit.
Since Curry went down with that hamstring injury in Game 1, coach Steve Kerr has been tinkering and searching for what he calls 'the formula,' the recipe for what the Warriors must do to win without their superstar.
It is becoming painfully apparent, though, that there is no formula for chicken soup that doesn't involve chicken.
So much for comic book heroics. Batman never saw the Bat Signal flash in the sky over Gotham and texted Commissioner Gordon, 'Sorry, sir, but with my hammie I can't even drive the Batmobile, and Robin doesn't have his learner's permit yet.'
The Warriors have become the Bad Luck Bears. They had a chance to claw back into this series Monday, and gave it a good go until the third quarter, but Jimmy Butler, the guy who has to step up to lead the team with Curry out, played sick. Apparently there's a short-duration illness making the rounds of the Warriors' folks, and Monday was Butler's turn.
He played anyway, but the Warriors needed more than half a Jimmy.
The situation with Curry's leg could change, but that's unlikely. Almost surely he will be checked out by the crew led by Rick Celebrini, the Warriors' director of sports medicine and performance, then Curry will begin planning his courtside civilian outfit for that night's game.
My guess is that if Curry decided Wednesday he wanted to give it a go, and was willing to take a pain-killing shot, and insisted on playing, Celebrini and Kerr would have to let Curry try.
Celebrini has enormous decision-making power with this team. In most, if not all, other cases, he's the decider on whether or not a player can go. But in this case, Curry might have the final say.
'Wednesday we'll have an update,' Kerr said.
So don't get your hopes up. Chances are slim and none. Curry knows he can't go.
Curry faces the dismal scenario of watching his team lose four games in a row and get bounced out of the playoffs with him unable to help. As Curry said last week in Minnesota, how many more chances will he get to play meaningful basketball?
If Curry sits out Wednesday, and he will, it's not because he's not willing to risk doing further harm to that hamstring, it will be because he knows that dragging that leg up and down the court would drag his team down. As compromised as the Warriors are without him, he would not help them in Game 5.
The hope, the dream at this stage, is that somehow the Warriors can pull out a win Wednesday and extend the series to a sixth game, and there would be three days off between Games 5 and 6, giving Curry maybe, just maybe, enough time to get back.
The Warriors' thoughts of tying the series Monday night blew up in the third quarter, when Anthony Edwards went bonkers. Curry coming back wouldn't make the Warriors' defense better, but without him, their 3-point shooting, their entire offensive scheme, is on vacation.
One stat speaks volumes. The Warriors had 18 assists Monday, a bit more than half the number they get when they're really clicking. In the regular season they were fourth in the league at 29.1 assists per game. Eighteen assists is not Warriors basketball.
Without Curry's gravity, his drawing away double- and triple-teams by defenders, the Warriors' offense struggles to rise above ordinary. Curry's gravity gives Butler room to operate, and Butler uses that gravity masterfully. When it's not there, and especially when Butler is ill, the Warriors struggle to get the 3-balls and good shots they need.
Monday the Warriors were a dismal 8-for-27 on 3's, 29.6%. The Timberwolves were 16-for-34, 47.1%. Edwards, 6-for-11 on 3's in Game 4, is looking more and more like Curry's heir apparent as the 3-point king of men's basketball.
Monday night Curry stood out like a sore thumb. He wore a bright red jacket on the bench, the only person in the entire Chase Center wearing red.
During pregame introductions, Curry wandered aimlessly, not really talking to anyone. When his team began its pregame dance, Curry kind of joined in as his teammates hopped around, but he looked like he was dancing at his granddaughter's wedding.
Late in the game, when the Chase Center DJ played Maroon 5's 'Moves Like Jagger,' it was sadly ironic.
Mick Jagger is 81 years old. If Curry, at 37, could move like Jagger Wednesday, the Warriors would have a chance to fight back into this series.
Instead, Curry will sit and watch, and the Warriors will fight for a miracle.