Steph Curry likely would've played in Game 6 had Warriors extended series

If the Warriors had won one of the last four games, Steph Curry likely would've returned from his hamstring injury and played in Game 6 in San Francisco on Sunday. But because the Wolves finished the series in five games on Wednesday night, Curry won't lace up his shoes for Golden State until next season.

"Everything was kind of aligned for Game 6," he said on Thursday. "I had some testing to do, and who knows how that would've went. First time dealing with this injury, I was pretty optimistic, but there were a couple more checkpoints to get through. It's a great what-if."

Curry scored 13 points in 13 minutes in the Warriors' Game 1 victory before suffering the injury. His timeline always pointed towards a possible Game 6 as the earliest potential return date, but the Warriors were unable to win another game and extend the series long enough for that to happen.

Credit to the Wolves, who took care of business against a Warriors team missing its best player (and the greatest shooter in NBA history). Julius Randle and Anthony Edwards led the way for Minnesota during four consecutive victories at two different venues. With no Curry, they were clearly the better team, and they survived a few Warriors surges to get the job done four times in a row.

Now the Wolves are onto their second consecutive Western Conference Finals appearance, where they'll face either the Oklahoma City Thunder or Denver Nuggets. Meanwhile, Curry and the Warriors are headed into what promises to be an interesting offseason in the Bay Area.

Who knows what the series would've looked like had Curry never gotten hurt? The Wolves almost certainly don't win it in five, but it would also be silly to proclaim that Golden State definitely would've advanced. Minnesota bounced back from an abysmal shooting night in Game 1 and hit 42.6 percent of its threes over the remainder of the series. Curry wouldn't have done much to affect the way Randle and Edwards executed on the offensive end. And even with a healthy Curry, the Warriors needed seven games to beat a Rockets team with definitively less firepower than the Timberwolves in the first round.

"Injuries are part of the playoffs," Steve Kerr said after Game 5. "I learned a long time ago the playoffs are really about health and guys stepping up and making some big shots, big plays in key games. That's what decides every series. And we've been on both ends of that. It's just part of it, so there's no sense in dwelling on it. I don't want to take anything away from what Minnesota just accomplished, so no sense in even talking about Steph."

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