Each night before a game, NBA teams must submit their injury reports to the league. While these reports can technically change, they typically remain consistent. On Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday’s Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals in Minnesota, the Golden State Warriors filed their latest injury update.
Following their Game 4 loss, which put them down 3-1 in the series, the Warriors’ report included a mix of good and bad news.
On the positive side, guard Gary Payton was removed from the injury list. He had been listed throughout the postseason due to a lingering thumb injury but has played in 10 of Golden State’s 11 playoff games despite it. Now, the issue appears resolved.
However, Stephen Curry remains listed with a hamstring injury that has sidelined him since playing just 13 minutes in Game 1. He’s scheduled for a re-evaluation on Wednesday, but a return for Game 5 is considered unlikely.
There remains a slim possibility Curry could be cleared last-minute, but realistically, the Warriors would need to win Game 5 without him to force a Game 6 in San Francisco. That game wouldn’t take place until Sunday—delayed by the debut of the Bay Area’s new WNBA team, the Valkyries—giving Curry a few extra days to recover.
Winning Game 5 on the road won’t be easy, but veteran Kevon Looney expressed confidence.
“We believe we can play much better,” Looney said. “We’ve had stretches of good basketball, maybe 36 to 40 minutes. But we need a complete 48-minute effort. If we do that, we can win. We still believe and have faith—we’ll take it one possession, one quarter at a time.”
