SAN FRANCISCO -- Steph Curry checked off one major box Wednesday when he was a full participant in Warriors practice, and knocked off an even bigger one Thursday two days before Game 1 of Golden State's first-round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets.
Curry scrimmaged in three six-minute segments with the Warriors, which Steve Kerr previously called essential for his superstar to be available at the start of the playoffs after missing the last month with a sprained ligament in his left foot.
"He's optimistic that he'll play Saturday, but we'll have to re-evaluate tomorrow to see how his foot responds overnight. Right now, things are looking good. His conditioning is good. Good for him to get out there and play, because of the speed of the game. He's got to feel all that stuff and get some rust off.
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"Good day overall."
If Curry is available for Game 1, he will be on a minutes restriction. How many minutes the Warriors would limit him to is unknown as of now, and mostly out of Kerr's hands.
"I don't know what the number is, but he's not playing 30, 35 minutes," Kerr said.
Golden State Warriors
To answer a fairly obvious question, Curry will start once the Warriors fully deem him ready to roll. That's no matter how many minutes Steph can play. He's not coming off the bench -- he will have his name called with the starters when Chase Center hosts its first playoff game, or later in the series.
However, when he returned from a knee injury for Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Portland Trail Blazers back in 2016, he came off the bench in his first game back. And all he did was drop 40 points while declaring "I'm back!"
"Yeah, that was when I was young and dumb," Kerr joked when Curry coming off the bench in 2016 was brought up. "Now I'm just old and dumb."
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Any specifics to a minutes restriction will be discussed Friday after seeing how Steph's foot responds to scrimmaging.
Curry is one step closer to being back. Another checkmark was crossed and the finish line is in arm's reach. Or in this case, a signature 13.5-sized Curry sneaker's length away.