Stephen Curry has never missed a game in his NBA career due to a hamstring injury, but is likely to miss his first on Thursday when the Golden State Warriors play the Minnesota Timberwolves. The wear and tear of the Warriors needing a Game 7 to close out the Houston Rockets after going up 3-1 in the series may have potentially led to his hamstring injury in the first half of Game 1.
“I am not any sort of medical professional expert,” said Brian Windhorst on Wednesday’s Hoop Collective Podcast. “I’m not pretending. I’m not saying this has anything to do with it. I’m just going to state a fact: on Sunday when the Warriors went into Houston and won Game 7, Steph Curry ran 1.99 miles in that game. Since we’ve been tracking, I don’t know, a decade? That’s the most he’s ever run in a game.
“This guy is obviously incredibly conditioned. It was an amazing performance. He had 10 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks, two steals. That is the farthest, on record, we have ever seen him run. At age 36, or whatever he is, he has the most running he has ever done and 48 hours later, he comes up with a hamstring injury. These are just two facts I’m just going to say. I don’t know if they are connected. I’m not blaming anybody. I think it might be relevant.”
Curry was relentlessly hounded by Amen Thompson throughout the series. Thompson is just 22 years old and one of the best athletes in the entire NBA. Thompson also suffered a calf injury in Game 7 as he was potentially also impacted by the physical load of the series.