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Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry sat out Tuesday’s 114-103 home victory over the Utah Jazz due to bilateral knee injury management.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said the hope is that Curry will be available for the second night of the back-to-back against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
It felt like with three games in the next four nights with his knees where they are, let’s be smart about it and go from there,” Kerr said.
Curry, 36, a late addition to the injury report, has rested parts of back-to-backs four times this season as he manages knee soreness.
“We take it day-to-day, week-to-week, and it made sense to give him the night off and try to get him right for the rest of the week,” Kerr said.
The 76ers said Tuesday that forward Paul George suffered tendon damage to the pinkie finger on his non-shooting left hand.
George hurt the finger when he jammed it Saturday against the Chicago Bulls. An MRI and ultrasound showed the tendon damage, the team said.
George sat out Tuesday night’s 118-104 win against the Lakers, the 15th game he has missed this season, and will be evaluated in the coming days. But coach Nick Nurse indicated the injury is not major and that George is day to day.
THE SOLD-OUT stands in Boston’s TD Garden, Terry Pritchard could feel the swell of anticipation building around him as his son checked in to the game with four seconds left before halftime. Seated about nine rows behind the Celtics bench, Terry rose from his seat, along with thousands more, anticipating what might happen next.
It was June 17, 2024, and the Celtics were hosting the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals. At that moment in a potential title-clinching game for Boston, Mavericks star Luka Doncic was at the free throw line, trying to convert a three-point play. Celtics guard Payton Pritchard had checked in for Derrick White, with the Celtics comfortably leading by 18 points.
From his perch in a fifth-floor suite above midcourt, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens looked on, and he, like everyone else in the arena — if not the entire league — knew what would happen next..
“He’ll never not take a heave,” Stevens told ESPN of Pritchard. “It’s not about what his shooting percentages are. It’s about winning. And I love that.”
The shots provide huge momentum swings and are often worth more than the point total, Stevens said. Pritchard proved as much in Game 2, when he sank a buzzer-beating 34-footer at the end of the third quarter — his only points of the game — that gave the Celtics an eight-point lead.
Boston won, and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla called it the “play of the game.”
With the Celtics seemingly cruising toward their 18th championship in Game 5, Doncic missed his free throw. Celtics big man Al Horford grabbed the rebound with two seconds left, turned his head and immediately passed to Pritchard, who was calling for the ball.
“Here’s Pritchard,” broadcaster Mike Breen announced, as Pritchard sprinted up court, taking one dribble before entering his shooting motion. “He loves these.”
“In the moment of the game and the adrenaline, it doesn’t matter how far it is, it just makes you lock in to a whole other level,” Pritchard told ESPN. “I don’t know how to explain it, but the moment is there and everything slows down — and I just truly believe that when I put it up, I can make this.”
On the bench, Celtics reserves were already celebrating as the ball sailed through the air from half court, raising their arms in anticipation.
“BANG!” Breen announced as the heave splashed through the net, a 49-footer that registered as the longest made shot in the Finals in nearly a quarter century. “Pritchard at the buzzer!”
The Garden erupted.
“I’ve been in TD Garden now for 12 years of basketball games,” Stevens said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever heard it like that — at that very moment.”
