The Warriors Caught A Prayer And Avoided The Worst Case Scenario As Steph Curry Is Officially Diagnosed With A Grade 1 Hamstring Strain, But He'll Still Miss At Least a Week

Jesse D. Garrabrant. Getty Images.

The second Steph Curry left last night's Game 2 in the 2nd quarter and then was quickly ruled out with a hamstring strain, the entire basketball world held their breath until the MRI results came in. 

What that MRI showed would ultimately determine how severe the injury was and give us a better idea of when Steph might be able to return to the court, and even though the Warriors were able to steal Game 1, their chances to get out of this round obviously hinge on Steph's availability.

Well, we now have our answer

All things considered, I'd say this is about as positive a result as you can have? A Grade 1 sprain is the prayer I think most Warriors fans were looking for, as that timeline looks more like 7-10 days compared to a Grade 2 sprain which is more like 3-6 weeks. While you have to be careful in terms of his rehab and bringing him back, that alone is a huge win and I'm sure brings a huge sigh of relief to the team and that fanbase.

Given this is his first time dealing with this type of injury the next question becomes how does he respond to rehab and what does that timeline look like in terms of the series schedule?

As I said last night when he initially went down, it feels a little crazy to think Steph will be back in 7 days for that Game 5. Maybe he's superhuman and can heal like Wolverine, but at his age and the way he plays, that feels risky. We just saw someone like Jrue Holiday have a strained hamstring, and that took him out from 4/24 to 5/5. Granted, part of that was the Celts wrapping up their series early, but it was around 11 days before he returned to action and looked mostly like himself in Game 1 vs the Knicks. 

Following that same type of timeline, it does feel like the more realistic return date will be Game 6 on 5/18. All the Warriors need to do is find a way to win one more game, which feels doable. Split at home at the very worst and you keep things alive long enough for Curry to come back. They were able to go into MIN and find a way to win without him, why can't that happen in one of the home games? Role players tend to play better at home, the crowd will be there to help carry them, it's not crazy.

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While this may be the "best case" scenario for Curry, as a fan it still sucks that he's going to miss the majority of the series, and perhaps all of it if the Wolves turn things around and somehow win 4 straight. Between the Celts in Round 1, the Cavs in Round 2, and now the Warriors, we're seeing the best teams and best players continue to be bit by the injury bug. It's by far the worst part about the playoffs that we tend to get every year, and it's why winning a title is so goddamn hard. You need everything from a good roster to good coaching, to good execution, to good health, and most importantly, a little luck. There's always a chance that one misstep could have your superstar sidelined for an entire series, and that's why the journey up the mountain is so tough.

My hope is that Steph is able to do the unthinkable and come back sooner due to some out of the box rehab or something, even though with hamstring strains, all you can really do is let it rest. They are so fragile that one setback can take you back to square one, but I'm begging the Basketball Gods to keep the prayer coming. The first one was this being a Grade 1 sprain, how about another one being a quick rehab/recovery.