HOUSTON – The question surrounding Stephen Curry changed on Saturday, when the Golden State Warriors star announced in no uncertain terms that his return from a two-game absence will come in Sunday’s Game 4 against the Houston Rockets.
The ailing right ankle, for all intents and purposes, is back to normal.
But now, after the Warriors have given a seemingly-lifeless Rockets bunch some hope with a Game 3 loss that cut their series edge to 2-1, the real crux of the Curry issue is this: will he really be back? It’s one thing to be back in body alone. But Curry, who has admitted that the endless ankle issues of yesteryear crept into his psyche this week as he recovered from this injury, will need to be there with a free spirit as well.
It is, and always has been, the key to his playing style.
“The only thing I need to be sure about (on Sunday) is the stability of (the ankle) – when I need to call on a certain move, or a certain pivot, or plant, change of direction, change of speeds, that my ankle will be underneath me,” said Curry, who suffered the injury in Game 1 on April 16. “And I feel that I’m at that point right now. I can deal with a little bit of pain and discomfort – not pain, (but) discomfort – that comes along with it as long as I can feel stable. I don’t foresee that being an issue.
"It’s not pain. It’s like soreness that comes along with all that my ankle has been through. It’s kind of to be expected, and I see it as this is kind of my playoff thing now. Everybody has something that they’re dealing with in some way, shape or form. It’s stable, there’s no swelling or anything so I can do everything I need to do."
But he doesn’t truly know if that's the case because, well, there’s simply no way he could. The mere presence of pain – or discomfort, as Curry tried to qualify it – means there will be an unwelcome mental component to his performance. And for the overmatched Rockets, who could apply so much pressure to the defending champions if they win at home again to tie up the series, that shred of uncertainty is enough to give them a chance.
From the surreal shooting to the playmaking and every other skillset he has mastered, none of it works if he’s stuck in his own head. Curry liked what he heard from those voices between his ears during the battery of tests, from the 3-on-3 work he completed successfully on Friday to the 5-on-5 scrimmage he took part in a day later. But what matters most, of course, is what they’re saying in those opening minutes of play on Sunday.
“You’ve kind of got to force yourself (into playing freely) at this point,” Curry continued. “I don’t know how it will be tomorrow, when I get out there in a game situation and I don’t know where my mind will be. I know I have confidence with what I’ve been doing the last couple of days to kind of prove I can do what I need to do, whatever move I need to try to do execute.
“Like you say, play free with that creativity. I feel like I can do that in this setting, and hopefully that translates to a clear mind and confidence in myself tomorrow.”
If Curry is really back, then the Rockets will be grounded soon enough. But if not? Stranger things have happened in the NBA.
