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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, center, and coach Steve Kerr smile during a timeout during the first half in Game 2 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series against the Houston Rockets Monday in Oakland, Calif.
HOUSTON >> Stephen Curry wanted to play, but was overruled and will miss Game 3 of the Warriors’ first-round series against the Houston Rockets today due to his tweaked right ankle.
“Weighing the pluses and the minuses, very easy decision,” coach Steve Kerr said.
Curry had participated in shootaround before meeting with orthopaedic team physician Bill Mahoney and team trainers. Kerr said he and general manager Bob Myers were also in on the decision-making process to have the reigning MVP miss a second straight playoff game.
“We kind of teamed up on him,” Kerr said. “He wanted to play, but he’s also very practical and he understands the thinking and he understands that better safe than sorry.
“Without having done anything for four days — no conditioning, no rhythm, no actual live contact, it would have been irresponsible I think to put him out there.”
Curry suffered the injury Sunday and hasn’t played or participated in a full practice since then. After cutting short his pregame routine before Game 2, he appeared to go through shootaround before Game 3 without incident.
“He felt pretty good, he moved well, he wanted to play,” Kerr said. “But ultimately we didn’t feel comfortable after four straight days of inactivity throwing him in the middle of a playoff game not knowing how the ankle would respond.
“His thought was that he would be OK. We just felt a lot more comfortable putting him through a 3-on-3 tomorrow, probably a 5-on-5 Saturday and really seeing if he’s OK or not. It wasn’t worth the risk if we had put him out there tonight and he had re-injured it. That’s too big of a risk, so we’ll see what happens the next couple days, and hopefully he’ll be ready for Game 4 (on Sunday).”
Shaun Livingston will start at point guard for a second straight game in place of Curry.
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