Stephen Curry On Game 4 Fall: ‘I Felt Like I Was In The Air For A Long Time’

2014-15 NBA MVP and Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry had a nasty fall during the first half of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Houston Rockets on /4/25 when he bit into the pump fake of Trevor Ariza. Curry said it wasn’t as bad as it looked and went on to finish 23 points in a losing effort.

Stephen Curry has shaken off the ill effects of his fall during Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Houston Rockets. 

Curry hit the deck hard during the second quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ 128-115 loss on Monday. He bit into Rockets forward Trevor Ariza’s pump fake, flipped in mid-air and hit the Toyota Center parquet floor hard on his back, per CBS Sports’ James Herbert. 

The 2014-15 NBA MVP stayed down for a few minutes while “the entire arena went silent,” per Herbert. Curry eventually picked himself up and went to the locker room to have himself checked on by the trainers.

Championship dreams are fragile. @teamziller on Stephen Curry’s fall & recovery. http://t.co/AvcRELQQrt pic.twitter.com/DM3HvwidNQ— SB Nation NBA (@SBNationNBA) /4/26, 2015

CBS Sports’ Ken Berger reported Curry had an X-ray inside the Toyota Center weight room. Curry’s father Dell Curry, Warriors general manager Bob Myers, assistant general manager Kirk Lacob were all by Curry’s side while he was being evaluated. 

He told CBS Sports the fall wasn’t as bad as the previous ones he had in his career:

“There’s a concussion protocol that all the team doctors and athletic trainers follow that I’ve been through before, I think two times in my career. I felt a lot better than I did those last couple times. That was good news on my end. 

“Rode the bike for a little bit, got my heart rate up and made sure that it didn’t get worse. Ran up and down the hallway, and all the balance tests and stuff like that.”

He then tells Herbert he felt like he was airborne for a long time:

“I felt like I was in the air for a long time. Once I hit the ground, you kind of hear voices from trainers and people just telling me to take my time and not rush yourself getting up. And want to make sure that you pass all the tests that they needed to do so that I could get back on the floor. So that’s what happened.

Stephen Curry passed concussion protocols twice last night before re-entering the game. http://t.co/p6r3MdpJQ7 pic.twitter.com/cshOHiLpfD— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) /4/26, 2015

“it’s all kind of minor stuff compared to how it looked. I’ll get some good rest tonight and be ready to go. Since it happened now, nothing’s gotten worse. I expect that to continue in the hours leading to Wednesday.” 

He also told CSN Bay Area’s Monte Poole he took his time in recovering from that hard fall:

“I was taking my time, to be honest with you. Because I wanted to make sure I was OK and not put myself in danger for the rest of the series if it wasn’t right for me to go back out there. 

“I listened to all the advice and did all the tests I needed to do and stayed patient with it. And once I got the sign-off from the athletic trainers and the team doctors…obviously, I wanted to play, but I wanted to make sure the process was gone about in the right way so there would be no second-guessing once I got back on the floor.”

(Before fouling out) “Green screamed: ‘Keep fighting back, fellas, I promise you they’re going to [bleeping] crack'” http://t.co/JIT9oGx3zz— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) /4/26, 2015

Curry returned with 5:58 remaining in the third quarter, per Herbert.