Was Curry hurt during Finals? Myers uses two different words

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Stephen Curry didn't look like the back-to-back MVP during the 2016 NBA Finals.

He's inability to take over games led to speculation that he might be hurt, that his ankle and knee injuries weren't fully healed.

Two days after the Warriors' historic season came crashing down with a Game 7 loss to the Cavs at Oracle, Curry told reporters that he didn't need any offseason surgery but that he needs to "get some good rest and recovery, obviously, for all sorts of body parts, and try to get 100 percent healthy."

On Friday, Warriors GM Bob Myers appeared on KNBR 680 with Gary Radnich and Larry Krueger, and was asked if Curry was hurt towards the end of the playoffs.

"I don't know if 'hurt' is the right word. It was probably 'fatigued' or 'drained,' something to that measure more than hurt. Hurt implies he had some part of him that was injured and couldn't play," Myers said. "I do think, for a variety of reasons, he was at a point in the season where he was not at his peak level, nowhere near."

Myers elaborated on why he believes Curry was "fatigued," and was asked if Curry would have sat out games if it had been the regular season rather than the NBA Finals.

"Your minutes go up in the playoffs. The intensity of the game goes up dramatically in the playoffs. If you're used to playing 34 minutes and then playing 40 at a much higher rate, then you had to sit out 2-3 weeks for an injury where you actually were injured and couldn't walk, add it all up in aggregate, and yeah, whatever you want to call it, he could have used, if he was in the regular season, not necessarily in the Finals, during that stretch, you might have limited his minutes or let's get him a night here or there.

"And some of it's mental, That's why you have to tip your hat to LeBron who has been the Finals six years in a row. Curry had played in the USA stuff prior to last season. Then we went to Finals. Then he had the last summer where he didn't really do anything, although he was busy. Then he goes right into this season and he goes the Finals again. I think some of this is mental fatigue. But he's not making any excuses. I'm just speculating. He didn't come up to me in the exit interview and say 'Hey man, I was exhausted. And that's why you like the guy. All he said was 'I need to play better.'"

Curry missed two games after tweaking his right ankle on April 16 in Game 1 of the first round series against Houston, returning for Game 4 on April 24, only to sprain his right knee, which kept him out of the lineup for two full weeks.

Curry returned May 9 for Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals at Portland, delivering his most spectacular performance: 40 points – including 17 in overtime – nine rebounds and eight assists in a 132-125 Warriors victory.

As the Warriors prepared for the conference finals against Oklahoma City, Curry explained that his knee injury was not appreciably better and that he didn’t expect it to fully heal until the offseason.

Curry later cited the knee injury is one of the reasons he opted out of consideration for the Olympics this summer in Brazil.

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