Steph Curry out with sprained knee, re-evaluated in 2 weeks

OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - Steph Curry will likely be out for several weeks with a sprained knee.

According to a tweet sent out by the Warriors, Steph Curry underwent an MRI Monday morning, which revealed he has a Grade 1 MCL sprain in his right knee. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Curry was injured in Sunday’s game at Houston. He had returned after missing two games with a sprained right ankle, but did not play in the second half after spraining his right knee on the final play of the second quarter.

Orthopaedic surgeon Warren Strudwick told KTVU from his Emeryville office that a sprain instead of a tear is the best case scenario. Strudwick was a team physician for the Oakland Raiders, who has also tended to NBA players. 

"These professional guys are the best athletes in the world," Strudwick noted, "and they're at their level because their bodies have been resistant to injuries." 

 "We'll be cautious and he won't play until he's completely ready to play," declared Warriors General Manager Bob Myers, during a Monday briefing for reporters.  

Myers called the two-week break an "educated guess" because all depends on how the injury responds to rest and rehabilitation. 

Doctor Strudwick showed KTVU a healthy medial collateral ligament on an MRI scan.

Running along the inside of the knee, it shows up as a dark, dense strand on the screen. But an MCL with a grade 1 sprain has some cloudy whiteness along the ligament, indicating damage.

"The knee gets stretched in a way, that it makes the knee "knock-kneed", explained Dr. Strudwick, "it didn't separate or tear the ligament, but pulled on it and stretched it out."

It's a common sports injury, Strudwick says, and in a professional football player, he'd tape it, brace it, and send them back out to play. But as a point guard who needs to be fast and agile, Steph Curry can't play with a brace on.

So his sprained MCL has to heal, which takes three to six weeks in average patients, faster for someone in his peak condition.

The Warriors felt bad for the reigning MVP, but instead of sulking about their misfortune, they responded with a huge third quarter to pull away from the Houston Rockets and cruise to a 121-94 victory on Sunday that gave them a 3-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.

"When you have a team that is as together as ours is and cares about each other like ours does, you tend to pick up the fight a little bit," coach Steve Kerr said. "Our guys sensed that we needed to come together."

Soon after half of the vaunted Splash Brothers dejectedly limped to the locker room, the other one kept the 3-pointers raining down. Klay Thompson made four of his seven 3s in the third as the Warriors made a franchise playoff-record eight in that quarter en route to an NBA playoff-record 21.

"Let's not fool ourselves. When you hit the shots we're hitting, things are going to go your way," Draymond Green said.

James Harden was disgusted with Houston's play in the third quarter.

"Terrible way, terrible way, terrible way to lose ... just a terrible quarter and that's what gave the game away," Harden said.

Golden State hosts game 5 on Wednesday.