OAKLAND — Steph Curry spoke for almost 15 minutes Monday morning, and there was only one question he didn’t answer with words.
Asked how his right ankle is holding up after spraining it early in Game 6 against the Clippers on Friday then playing 37 minutes against the Rockets on Sunday, Curry kept his head down and put two thumbs in the air.
Both Curry and Klay Thompson sprained their right ankles in the Warriors’ series-clinching win over the Clippers, Curry in the first quarter and Thompson in the third, and less than 48 hours later were in the starting lineup for Game 1 against the Rockets. The same will be the case on Tuesday for Game 2 at Oracle Arena.
“They’re good,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Monday. “They both seemed good today. They’ll get some treatment and a couple of days rest and play tomorrow night.”
Curry was cleared for Game 1 before his pregame workout on Sunday, but Thompson’s status was determined after he tested his ankle prior to tipoff.
“I tried to do everything in my will power to play great today. I felt great out there,” Thompson, who played 41 minutes, said on Sunday after the Warriors’ 104-100 win. “Credit to our training staff. They got magical hands and amazing remedies that will get you right. Real pros.”
Thompson scored 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting and a 2-of-5 clip from 3 to go along with four rebounds, three assists and three turnovers. Curry hit the dagger 3 with 25.9 seconds remaining to soften the blow of a mediocre afternoon in which he scored 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting on a 3-of-10 clip from deep to accompany seven rebounds, four assists, three turnovers and five fouls.
“They were unbelievably helpful in terms of getting us ready to play and giving us the best opportunity to be out there and not let this be a lingering effect throughout the series,” Curry said of the team’s training staff on Sunday. “So I think we got through Game 1 fine.”
