Fatigued Golden State players took Wednesday off after a physical 99-88 Game 1 victory over the Timberwolves, but coach Steve Kerr and his staff went to work determining how the Warriors will play on without superstar Stephen Curry for the next three games and possibly the rest of the best-of-seven series.

Curry left Tuesday's game at Target Center in the second quarter because of a strained left hamstring and did not play again on a night his teammates led by as many as 23 points, even with Curry unavailable for more than half the game.

The Warriors on Wednesday announced that an MRI confirmed a Grade 1 strain and said Curry will be reevaluated in a week.

A week is Game 5 on May 14 at Target Center.

He'll miss the series' next three games: Thursday at Target Center and Saturday and Monday in San Francisco.

Game 6 would be May 18 in San Francisco, and a deciding Game 7 is set for May 20 at Target Center. There are three days off between Games 5 and 6.

 

"We're in that room right now talking about how we're going to approach it," Kerr told reporters at the team's downtown Minneapolis hotel Wednesday. "What the lineups are going to look like, it's all part of it.

"Every year the playoffs are about adapting, whether it's a game plan, an injury, a lineup, so we just have to adapt. We've done this before. We're confident we can do this again."

Curry sustained multiple injuries during the 2016 NBA playoffs, including a sprained ankle that sidelined him for two games and a knee sprain that kept him out for four games. He continued to play injured, all the way to a seven-game NBA Finals loss to LeBron James and Cleveland.

Curry and the 2016 Warriors had Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala to rely upon.

This time, Green, Jimmy Butler, Buddy Hield and role players Pat Spencer and Brandin Podziemski, among others, must step forward, as they did in Game 1.

Curry missed three games in March, and Kerr said he'll study those games and many others, including when Butler was the No. 1 offensive option in Miami, before deciding upon a plan. He said Golden State will rely on a defense that's been the league's best-rated in recent months.

"We're absolutely going to rely on Jimmy like we have when Steph has been off the floor the last couple months," Kerr said. "We ran everything through Jimmy, but we can't just rely on him creating every single shot. We've got to execute offensively."

 

 

Kerr said there's no reason to give his team a "Win one for Steph" speech before Game 2.

"I think that's just a given," Kerr said. "Everyone loves and respects Steph so much. He's the reason this whole run has happened. Draymond, Klay, a lot of people have driven this thing.

"When it comes down to it, this is about Steph, this whole thing. He's like Tim Duncan in San Antonio and Michael Jordan in Chicago. The whole team understands that. I don't need to give a One-for-Steph speech. Everyone knows. They want to do it for him. Nobody has to say that."