Just about a month removed from Steph Curry’s Grade 1 hamstring strain in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, the “what if” still remains for the Warriors.
Curry’s former teammate, Shaun Livingston, agrees with most fans in saying that the Warriors would have had a chance to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves had the injury not occurred.
“They definitely have a shot,” Livingston told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole on Wednesday. “There’s no question about it. He changes the game, he changes the series and the outlook and the way you strategize for the team.”
The Warriors won Game 1 of the series against Minnesota before dropping the next four games sans Curry.
The 11-time NBA All-Star averaged 24.0 points, 5.7 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game in the Warriors’ first-round series against the Houston Rockets and was locked in Game 1 against the Timberwolves, as he had 13 points in just 13 minutes played prior to sustaining the injury.
“When you have guys that go down like that, it’s just, again, there’s so many ripple effects that come out of a player going down,” Livingston told Poole. “Just all these different second and third order effects, you know, to a guy going down. So, I really feel like obviously the Warriors were robbed in that series with injuries. They put a valiant effort up but again we’ll never know because injuries are just a part of the game.”
Curry, 37, racked up four championships with the Warriors, but the chance at a fifth title run this past season could be a “what if” that’s brought up for the foreseeable future.