NBA News: Warriors’ Stephen Curry ‘Playing At 70 Percent, At Best’

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors are in a big hole. The Oklahoma City Thunder have taken complete control of the Western Conference Finals with Russell Westbrook and company winning three of the four games played in the series.

Following another devastating loss on the road against the Thunder, the Warriors need to regroup and try to avoid elimination in a must-win Game 4 back in Oakland at Oracle Arena. Although no one is totally counting out the defending champs, two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry isn’t 100 percent heading into the biggest game of the season for Golden State.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, Curry is still recovering from the knee injury suffered earlier in the NBA playoffs:

Curry has been a shell of himself – missing shots, throwing away passes, losing his dribble, and completely unable to prove that there’s Curry-esque agility in that knee. “He’s playing at 70 percent, at best,” a source close to Curry told The Vertical. Curry refuses to make excuses, but privately the Thunder see something – no explosion, no ability to make the bigs switching onto him pay a price. Twenty points on 19 shots Tuesday night bore no resemblance to the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player.

Curry suffered a sprained MCL in the team’s second-round playoff series with the Portland Trail Blazers. Although Curry was able to bounce back with a vengeance in that series against fellow star point guard Damian Lillard, the league’s best player seems a step slow when facing Westbrook and Kevin Durant.

All is not lost for the Warriors as they remain confident they can get back in this series in Game 5 on their home floor. If any team in the league is capable of coming back from a 3-1 deficit, it’s Golden State with Curry having the added motivation to defy the odds over the next three games.

Heading into Game 5, the Warriors are favored with a -7 point spread, via Sportsbook.ag. Curry’s playing status is unchanged as the superstar will be in the starting lineup to help his team against a resilient and talented Thunder squad.