Lowell Cohn: Stephen Curry's injury offers hope to Rockets after Game 1

OAKLAND - Let's get this straight. Stephen Curry turning his ankle in Game 1 of this playoff series is not a good thing for the Warriors. On the other hand, it is a very good thing for the Houston Rockets.

Curry may be seriously hurt or he may be mildly hurt. Few people know the truth - it's like some top-secret Pentagon deal. This we know. Curry did not practice with his pals on Sunday. And he did not attend the post-practice media session. The team said he was getting therapy. He was the biggest presence in the room through his indisputable absence.

The last we saw of him, he was limping. Talked to the media after Game 1. Sat on that dais in the interview room. Then climbed tentatively down two steps. Two steps in all. Like someone who needed a crutch. I'm telling you.

On Sunday, coach Steve Kerr, seeming breezy - breezy is the adjective for him - repeated Curry is “questionable” for Game 2. Who knows what that means? Kerr, forthright man, isn't about to announce Curry's true status. These are the playoffs. Expect subterfuge. Stealth. Kerr will let the Rockets wonder and worry. You would, too.

At this point, I'm supposed to take the no-big-deal angle. Make you feel good. Curry can't play, no big deal. He's got a great supporting cast and the Warriors will wipe out the Rockets. And that may be true. On New Year's Eve, the Warriors played Houston in Houston, won 114-110 without Curry, who had a sore left leg. They also were without Festus Ezeli - bad toe. And Leandro Barbosa - sprained shoulder.

Other guys rose up - it happens with the Warriors. Klay Thompson scored 38. Andre Iguodala scored 20. Draymond Green dished 16 assists. Those are strictly “wow” numbers. Winning numbers. Numbers the Warriors will need if Curry is a spectator.

There is another point of view about all this. In life, another point of view always shoves its way into the room. The Rockets are probably jubilant right now. They had zero chance in this series unless Curry got hurt, and now - there is a God - Curry got hurt. And not because of anything they did dirty, cross their hearts, hope to die. Curry turned his ankle, the right ankle, the bad ankle, the surgically-repaired ankle, the ankle he and the Warriors worry about, merely by turning around and running back on defense.

Warning sign.

And that means Curry either will be OK for Game 2 or he won't. I mean, if he's only 50 percent, the Warriors probably don't play him. “Day by day,” Kerr said after Sunday practice. “We'll see how he's feeling. We'll assess whether there's risk of reinjuring it. If there is, we won't play him. If it's stable and there's not any risk, he'll probably play.”

Lots of qualifiers there - whethers and ifs.

And that means Curry may miss no games or he may miss one game or he may miss more than one game. And that means the Rockets have a chance - an outside chance - when just a few days ago they had zero chance. And that means this thing that was going to be an assassination and a sweet and easy elimination of the eighth seed, just became a series. A real playoff series. Maybe.

Imagine Curry misses a game or two or more. The Rockets, as awful as they are, will have the best player on the floor, by far. James Harden. And the Rockets will have something even more important. Hope. New feeling for them against the Warriors. Hope is beautiful and good and reviving, and these Rockets will be eager to play the possibly-diminished Warriors.

Major change. Seismic shift. That's how big this will be. Or could be. The league MVP in danger. We have heard so much about the Warriors being the ultimate team and playing the ultimate team game. I have written that. Gladly. Sure, but the Warriors are a different team without Curry, and they are no longer ultimate.

“Kind of changes things,” Kerr said. “We don't seem to be as good a coaching staff when Steph goes out. Obviously, we've got to find different ways to score. When Steph's out, our guys understand he's not there to count on, so they have to execute. If they don't, we're just not going to score enough points.”

Kerr said Shaun Livingston would start at point guard if Curry doesn't play. Livingston is an admirable player and he's very good. “Shaun, he's a post-up threat,” Kerr said “He's such an old-school player. He's skilled. He doesn't have 3-point range, but he's creative at the midrange and he's so smart. Great passer. He's so long and active on the glass. He does a little of everything and makes everybody better around him.”

Can Livingston play Curry minutes?

“We don't ever want Shaun to play more than about 30 minutes. But this is the playoffs and we don't play again till Thursday and, if he had to go a few minutes more, he could probably do it. But he's not a 40-minute guy. I know that.”

Another thing Kerr knows - Shaun Livingston is not Stephen Curry.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn.pressdemocrat.com.