Stephen Curry suffered a tailbone contusion in last Wednesday's Golden State Warriors victory over the Houston Rockets, and the team ruled him out of the game midway through the fourth quarter. The play itself occurred at the end of the third quarter. Curry managed to shake Kevin Porter Jr. in order to create a 3-point attempt, but lost control over his momentum while going backward.
Curry appeared to believe that there would be something behind him to slow him down, but there was not. He fell down on metal stairs near the court where fans normally would have been and appeared to be in real pain.
A closer look at Steph falling at the end of the third pic.twitter.com/mrY0GTattR
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) March 18, 2021
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Tuesday that Curry will be out at least another week after an MRI revealed inflammation on his tailbone, but Golden State cannot afford a prolonged absence. At 22-21, they currently occupy the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference, putting them in a position to participate in the play-in round.
They are 3.5 games behind the Portland Trail Blazers, the current No. 6 seed, and catching them to escape the play-in round even with a healthy Curry would be no easy task. The Warriors have struggled to generate good shots when Curry leaves the game this season, so any more missed games than are absolutely necessary would be difficult for them to handle. The Warriors play the 76ers, Hawks, Bulls and Kings in the next week, all of which figure to be winnable games for them.
