PHOENIX — Stephen Curry said the tendinitis in both of his knees is something he hasn’t dealt with before, but that he and the Golden State Warriors are getting ahead of it to try to make sure it doesn’t become a “nagging” issue.
After missing one game due to the bilateral knee pain, Curry returned and scored 23 points in 32 minutes but couldn’t keep the Warriors from dropping their fourth straight contest with a 113-105 loss to the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center on Saturday.
“[It] has the potential [to be] like a nagging type thing if you don’t take care of it,” Curry said of the knee pain after the game. “I’m not worried about it, not concerned about it at all. It’s just the deeper you get into your career, the more things pop up and you just got to figure it out.”
Curry, 36, said Rick Celebrini, the Warriors VP of player health and performance, has come up with a protocol to get ahead of the issue. Curry said he is not sure if that means he will have to miss any games as maintenance.
“Honestly, I was happy to get through this one playing 30 and not feeling it go the other way,” Curry said. “Feeling like I was pretty strong. I got stronger as the game went on, and they responded well. Whether that’s [sitting] a back-to-back here or there or whatever, we’ll decide that as we go through.
“But I’m just trying to control how I feel and know that it’s not a forced decision. It’s a smart decision. That’s all I’m trying to make possible.”
Curry sat out Wednesday’s 105-101 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder with what the team called “bilateral knee; patellofemoral pain.”
Curry missed three games earlier this season with an ankle injury. He also has been on the injury report with left knee bursitis but didn’t miss a game due to that injury. He went into Saturday’s game averaging 29 minutes.
“He’s 36,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of having to manage Curry’s knees. “This is all part of getting older and managing his minutes, his body, and Rick and his staff are the best in the world at what they do, and we’re working together every day on this stuff. So we’ll figure it out.”
Curry got off to a slow start in Phoenix, going 0-for-5 from the field and scoring just two points in the first half. Curry scored 15 points in the third quarter, and the Warriors cut a 17-point deficit to five with 1:11 remaining, but Devin Booker made four free throws to lift the Suns to victory.
Curry has two days off before the Warriors try to snap their four-game slide in Denver against MVP Nikola Jokic on Tuesday.
“I had to play better in the first half, get myself going,” Curry said. “I [was] just kind of testing it out, seeing how they respond with the little break. But it was good all the way through. The juice just started flowing the second half, and hopefully that carries over personally, but we have a lot to figure out as a team.”
