So much for Stephen Curry the super-sub.
Curry came off the bench in his 2018 playoffs debut, a 121-116 Game 2 win against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. While Curry was more than efficient in that role — scoring 28 points and making 5 of 10 3-pointers in 23 minutes — he will be back in the starting lineup for Game 3 on Friday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Coach Steve Kerr made that news official in a radio interview with 95.7 The Game on Wednesday. Curry started all 51 regular season games he played in for the Warriors in 2017-18, averaging 26.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. Here’s more from Logan Murdock of The Mercury News on Curry’s move back into the starting lineup:
Warriors guard Stephen Curry will start Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals against the New Orleans Pelicans, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in a radio appearance with 95.7 The Game
“Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kerr said to the San Francisco-based station during his weekly appearance. “You don’t keep a guy like that on the bench for long.”
In Game 2, Curry came off the bench his first game since suffering a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee five weeks ago, scoring 28 points, seven rebounds in just 27 minutes. Kerr also explained his decision for bringing the two-time MVP off the bench.
“His knee is fine,” Kerr said. “That’s the good news. The bad news is that he hasn’t played in [five] weeks. So any sort of minutes restriction was only based on his conditioning. So there was no-holds-bar in terms of his knee.”
Prior to Game 2 of the Warriors-Pelicans series, the last time Curry came off the bench in a playoff game was during the 2016 postseason. In Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Portland Trail Blazers, Curry finished with 40 points and set an NBA record by notching 17 of those points in overtime. The Warriors won that game, 132-125, to take a 3-1 series edge.
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