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The Golden State Warriors find themselves in Minneapolis for a critical Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. With Stephen Curry continuing to miss games due to a hamstring injury, the Dubs have lost three straight games to Anthony Edwards. As a result, they are now on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs, down 3-1 to the Wolves in this Western Conference Semifinal series.
While the Warriors have fought valiantly against the Timberwolves in Games 3 and 4 in front of their home faithful, one bad quarter in both games resulted in their demise. All that matters now is finding a way to win Game 5 and send this series back to San Francisco.
However, Curry is still dealing with his hamstring injury, leaving Golden State's offense stalled. With the Warriors on the brink of elimination, NBA fans are asking the question: “Is Stephen Curry playing tonight in Game 5 against the Timberwolves?”
Stephen Curry making good progress from hamstring injury
Curry suffered a Grade 1 left hamstring strain in the team's 99-88 Game 1 win on the road against the Timberwolves. Since then, Golden State's offensive decline has been the story of this series, as Edwards and Julius Randle have set the tone over the last three Minnesota victories.
After being re-evaluated on Wednesday, the Warriors announced Curry has been cleared to participate in light on-court workouts, including shooting drills. He will be re-evaluated again on Saturday. Curry will not play in Game 5 on Wednesday night in Minneapolis.
The good news for the Warriors is that nobody else is listed with any ailments, meaning it's all hands on deck with their backs up against the wall heading into Game 5.
As for Curry's status, the All-Star guard has been progressing steadily behind the scenes leading up to being cleared for further workouts on Wednesday.
While Steph continues to make progress behind the scenes and is on schedule in his rehab during the first week of this injury, he has yet to sprint or do any serious running exercises in his workouts behind the scenes. The next step to prove that he is ready to return will be displaying no limitations with jumping and cutting on the court.
With Curry receiving the green light to advance into the next steps of his recovery and eventually resume full basketball activities to test his hamstring, it is expected that he would return for Game 6 in San Francisco if the Warriors can pull out a key road win in Game 5.
Without Curry on the court, head coach Steve Kerr has turned to Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield as the main offensive contributors next to Jimmy Butler. Kuminga has been fantastic for Golden State since Curry's injury, averaging 23.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting 59.5 percent from the floor over his last three games.
Even so, the Warriors have been unable to get a win they have desperately needed to give Steph a chance at returning in this series. Kuminga and Hield must step up next to Jimmy Butler in Game 5 for Golden State to keep their season alive.
So, we ask the question again: “Is Stephen Curry playing tonight in Game 5 against the Timberwolves?”
The Warriors have made it clear that Curry will not suit up and play in Minneapolis, missing his fourth straight game with this left hamstring injury. If his team can get a win on Wednesday, everything is trending in the right direction for Curry to make his return to the floor in a potential Game 6.
