THE San Antonio Spurs And Warriors of the Golden State They’re expected to be missing some serious star power when they tip off a home series Saturday night in San Francisco.
Spurs standout rookie Victor Wembanyama and Warriors superstar Stephen Curry both suffered right ankle injuries this week, and both will likely miss the first game of the two-game set.
Wembanyama’s mishap occurred Tuesday against the Houston Rockets. He was sent back to San Antonio for further examination and missed Thursday’s 131-129 loss at Sacramento.
It was Spurs’ seventh straight loss this season, with Wembanyama left out of the lineup. Four of those losses were by six points or less.
San Antonio still had a chance to shock the Kings on the road, but Devin Vassell missed a 3-pointer at the end of a 30-point night.
Vassell had 24 points and Wembanyama 22 when the Spurs were defeated 118-112 in San Francisco in the in-season NBA tournament in November. Wembanyama and Keldon Johnson couldn’t connect on late 3-pointers that could have been the difference in that one.
Malaki Branham had 23 points, while Johnson and Zach Collins added 22 each in Sacramento’s loss as the Spurs attempted to replace quality with quantity.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich assured the decision to send Wembanyama home was made by the organization, not by the Rookie of the Year favorite, who initially played through pain for finish a 31-minute effort in Houston.
“He didn’t say much, so we didn’t realize he was embarrassed at the time,” Popovich said of the second-quarter misstep. “When we watched the film afterwards, we could see he wasn’t moving very well. So he’s taking care of that now.”
The Warriors wasted no time sending Curry to the locker room after he twisted his ankle during hoops practice late in Thursday’s 125-122 home loss to the Chicago Bulls.
Golden State was outscored 14-8 in the final 3:51 after Curry left the court.
The 10-time All-Star was scheduled to have an MRI on Friday, with the team expecting him to miss time regardless of the outcome.
The Warriors and Spurs meet in a rematch Monday night in San Antonio, with the Spurs hoping Wembanyama will be healthy enough to return. Golden State players were less optimistic after their loss on Thursday.
“I know we’re going to miss him,” Klay Thompson said of Curry. “We’ve been in this situation before where he had time off and we have to do it collectively.”
The Warriors’ losses without Curry this season were 104-101 to the Minnesota Timberwolves and 128-109 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in back-to-back home games in November, then 129-118 at Milwaukee in January.
Thompson had 21 points despite missing 16 of 23 shots in the loss to the Bucks, following two nightmare games in Curry’s first two absences.
He was ejected for scrambling with Jaden McDaniels 1:43 into the scoreless loss to Minnesota before shooting just 1 of 10 and totaling five points two nights later against Oklahoma City.
–Field level media
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