Stephen Curry leaves game with sprained ankle, does not return

Nothing puts a knot in the pit of the stomach of Warriors fans like watching Stephen Curry limp back to the locker room.

That’s what Warriors fans saw — again — in the team’s home opener on Sunday night. Curry tweaked his ankle in the third quarter, tried to stretch it out and return in the fourth, but quickly aggravated it while trying to set a screen on the Clippers’ Nicholas Butum and immediately after limped back to the locker room.

Curry did not return to the game with what the team called a sprained ankle. After the Clippers 112-104 win, coach Steve Kerr said that Curry had described the sprain as “mild” and “moderate” and that an MRI on Monday would tell them more.

Curry finished the night with 18 points and four made 3-pointers, but the remainder of the fourth was a reminder of what a tough go it will be for Golden State coming up without Curry, the team’s primary shot creator. While the remaining Warriors were able to get the Clippers’ lead in the game down to as low as three, they could not get over the hump and lost in the end 112-114.

The Warriors are now 2-1 on the season and host the New Orleans Pelicans — a team with its own injury issues as Trey Murphy III and Dejounte Murray are out — in back-to-back Games on Tuesday and Wednesday. After that, the Warriors head out on a five-game road trip.