Stephen Curry has no return target date, ‘I’ll do everything in my power to get back as soon as possible’

Golden State’s offense survived without Stephen Curry in Game 1 — the Warriors were +1 after Curry left the game with a hamstring strain, thanks to a hot shooting night from Buddy Hield and Draymond Green knocking down four 3-pointers. That, however, is not sustainable — the Warriors’ offense is 20 points per 100 possessions worse when he is off the floor in the playoffs.

Curry is officially out for Thursday night’s Game 2 and will be re-evaluated in a week, meaning he will miss at least three games this series. Speaking to the media at shootaround Thursday, Curry said there is no target date for his return, he has never had a hamstring injury before so he doesn’t know how long it will take to recover.

While Curry will be re-evaluated in a week, the average time missed for a Grade 1 hamstring strain is around 10 days, according to Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes. That timeline would also have Curry missing Game 5 and returning for Game 6.

“This is new and from all that I’m learning about how quickly you can get back, there has to be a healing process,” Curry said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “It’s just the way the body works. You can’t accelerate more than what it’s telling you.”

Having stolen a game on the road, if Golden State can get this series to 2-2 when Curry might be able to return, that’s a win. Golden State is going to have to do that with defense and some timely offense. The challenge is Anthony Edwards isn’t going to start another game 0-of-10 and the Timberwolves are not going to score just 88 points again.

All Curry can do is watch this unfold and hope to return and put his Warriors over the top and back into the Western Conference Finals.