SAN FRANCISCO — Steph Curry’s knees were bothering him enough for the Warriors to hold him out on the front end of a back-to-back, sidelining him for their Tuesday night game against Utah.
“With the back-to-back, we’re hopeful that he’ll play tomorrow,” head coach Steve Kerr said pregame. “But it felt like with three games in the next four nights, with his knees where they are, let’s be smart about it and go from there.”
Kerr said Curry’s knees flared up when he came in for an early workout. On the training table with director of sports medicine and performance Rick Celebrini, they decided it would be best to rest against the Jazz.
Curry is also dealing with a thumb injury on his shooting hand, but insists on not making that an excuse. In the first game after he jammed his thumb, he went 8-for-8 in a blowout win over the 76ers.
An All-Star for the 11th time in his career, Curry is averaging 22.3 points and 6.4 assists while facing defenses that sell out to slow him down on a nightly basis.
Curry hadn’t played both ends of a back-to-back after his knee soreness began in November until last week. Kerr said he hoped that’d be the status quo going forward, but everything is subject to change when it comes to the 36-year-old’s health.
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“This is all part of just being proactive,” Kerr said. “We take it kind of day-to-day, week-to-week. It made sense to give him the night off, try to get him right for the rest of the week.”
Curry’s injury means the Warriors will be without their three best players in Curry, Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga. Green won’t play until next week, while Kuminga won’t return before the Feb. 6 trade deadline from the significant ankle injury he suffered on Jan. 4.
It’s not a bad night for Golden State to be shorthanded. The Jazz’s injury report includes Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler, Jordan Clarkson, John Collins, Taylor Hendricks, Cody Williams and Johnny Juzang.
The Warriors started Dennis Schroder, Buddy Hield, Andrew Wiggins, Moses Moody and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Rookie center Quinten Post will also factor into the rotation, as he has for the past three games.
Tuesday is Curry’s ninth missed game of the season. Players can’t miss more than 17 to be eligible for end-of-season awards like All-NBA.
