The Golden State Warriors are in a must-win spot on Wednesday night, and the good news is that their best player will be on the floor. Stephen Curry and the 10th-seeded Warriors travel to Intuit Dome to face the No. 9 seed Los Angeles Clippers in a do-or-die Western Conference Play-In game, with tip-off set for 10:00 p.m. ET.
The loser goes home, and for Golden State, there is no margin for error heading into this one.
What Is Stephen Curry’s Status For Tonight’s Game vs. Clippers?
Curry is not on the injury report and is fully cleared to play tonight. The only Warriors listed as out are Jimmy Butler III, Moses Moody and Quinten Post, leaving Golden State with an already thin rotation to work with against a Clippers team that went 3-1 against them in the regular season.
Curry’s presence will be crucial for the Warriors after everything that they have been through in the last few months. They have lost Butler to a torn ACL, as well as Moody to a ruptured left patellar tendon.
The 4-time NBA champ has also faced his fair share of injury troubles. He has missed 39 games so far this season because of a knee injury that made him sit on the sidelines while Golden State was struggling for a playoff spot.
He returned recently and played in four of the team’s last five regular-season games, including a 24-point performance in Sunday’s 115-110 loss to the Clippers, where he was held to 29 minutes on a restricted plan.
These numbers clearly indicate that Curry still has what it takes to perform at a high level, despite missing a huge chunk of the regular season. The sharpshooter has averaged 26.6 points and 4.7 assists so far. He’s shooting 46.8% from the field and 39.3% from beyond the three-point line.
The Warriors finished the regular season at 37-45, ranking second in the NBA in three-pointers made with 1,286 despite Curry sitting out nearly half the year. Brandin Podziemski and De’Anthony Melton have settled into expanded roles alongside Curry in the starting lineup, but this team’s ceiling rises and falls with what their two-time MVP does from the perimeter.
On the other side, Kawhi Leonard sat out Sunday’s regular-season finale but is expected to be available tonight after averaging a career-best 27.9 points per game this season. The winner of tonight’s game advances to a Friday Play-In rematch against the Phoenix Suns for the West’s No. 8 seed.
