Steph Curry Consulted Kobe Bryant On How To Deal With Injured Finger

Steph Curry sought advice from the Mamba on playing with his injured finger

What's the story?

Stephen Curry consulted the Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant this week on how to deal with an injured ring finger on his shooting hand.

In case you didn't know...

Kobe Bryant dislocated his ring finger on his shooting hand in 2009 while playing against the Cleveland Cavaliers.But as relentless as Kobe his, he continued to play through the pain. Bryant declined surgery and often chose to play with the injury.

The heart of the matter...

The Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry hurt his ring finger Saturday night against the Pelicans and therefore sat out the game against Sacremento. He returned back into action against the Lakers at Staples Center with a wrap and pad on his finger and was able to play 39 minutes with it as the Warriors won in overtime 127-123.

Curry said that he reached out to the Black Mamba to seek advice as he had also dealt with a similar injury during his career. According to Curry, Bryant told him that its possible to play with a broken finger if it's wrapped and padded. The injury did not heal quickly and it was one of the most painful injuries that he had to face, Bryant added.

Although Curry did not mention that his injury is as severe as that of Kobe and whether it would require surgery, but similar to Kobe, he intends to play through it.

Managing the pain and playing with tape and padding on his shooting hand would be the biggest challenges as Curry told "It hurts. But guys have played through worse than this. Obviously, with your shooting hand, it's one of those things you got to get adjusted to. I'm not used to playing with tape, a brace, wrist wrap, all that stuff. But I'll get better with it."

Curry struggled badly for most of the game, airballing three times and missing 8 of his first 12 shots. But Curry finally poised himself during overtime as he scored 13 in that period, which included three 3 pointers and ended up finishing the game with 9-20 shooting.

What's next?

Curry and company play their second game of their six-game road trip against the Orlando Magic (9-13) on Friday.

Author's take

Curry biggest asset is his shooting. Although he shot almost perfectly when it mattered the most, an injury to the ring finger in the shooting hand should not be taken lightly and should be taken care of before it reaches any critical stage.