Warriors' Stephen Curry out at least 2 weeks with MCL sprain

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Monday, April 25, 2016

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry will miss at least the next two weeks with a sprained right MCL, the team announced.

An MRI taken Monday revealed a Grade 1 sprain, the lowest sprain possible. Curry suffered the injury in Sunday's Game 4 victory over the Houston Rockets.

"From our perspective, relatively good news," Warriors general manager Bob Myers said Monday.

Curry is scheduled to be re-evaluated in two weeks, the team said. He tweeted his thanks to his fans Monday afternoon.

"I was with him at the MRI today and he was pleased at the outcome," Myers said.

Myers added that "mechanically, the knee's intact," and surgery will not be necessary.

"We said two weeks, but that's no guarantee that it will be in two weeks, might be after two weeks, might be before," Myers said. "But I think it will be somewhere in that range, hopefully."

The reigning MVP had already missed Games 2 and 3 of the Warriors' first-round series against the Rockets before returning Sunday. However, he made it through only the first half of the game before sliding awkwardly on a wet spot on the court while attempting to guard Houston's Trevor Ariza shortly before halftime. Curry grabbed the knee and limped off to the locker room.

Curry returned to the court after halftime and moved laterally to test the joint, but he stopped and shook his head toward the bench. Shortly thereafter, he headed back to the locker room and was ruled out just after the second half began, with Shaun Livingston taking his spot in the lineup.

"He was standing there crying, you know, and like, 'Dog, just get out of here. We'll hold you down,'" Warriors forward Draymond Green told ESPN Radio's Kevin Calabro and Jon Barry after the game. "We gotta support him, you know, and be there for him. I mean, he came out and obviously gave it a go, wasn't 100 percent, and he gave it a go, and it's unfortunate that that happened.

"But at the end of the day, one thing we've always talked about is our depth, and we've gotta use that to win games, and so we used that tonight."

Added teammate Klay Thompson: "We knew as soon as Steph went down we were going to have to do it ourselves. The ball was swinging around, Draymond got hot, I made a couple and the floor opened up, and we were just patient and having good shots. That's why we were successful."

Curry had six points on 2-of-9 shooting, including 1-of-7 from behind the 3-point line.

Despite Curry being in and out of the team's lineup, the Warriors hold a 3-1 series lead over the Rockets with Game 5 Wednesday night at Oracle Arena. After winning a league-record 73 regular-season games, Golden State is looking to win its second straight NBA title.

If the Warriors advance to the Western Conference semifinals the series would start on either May 1 or May 3.

Information from ESPN.com's Calvin Watkins contributed to this report.

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