After making a return from a five-game absence due to another ankle sprain, Stephen Curry only last three quarters as he suffered a knee injury in the win over the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.

The two-time MVP was diagnosed with a grade two MCL sprain after he underwent an MRI scan and the Golden State Warriors have put a three-week timetable on his recovery.

But according to head coach Steve Kerr, that timeframe is hugely optimistic and he doesn't expect his star player to be available at all for the first round of the playoffs.

"There's no way he's playing in the first round," Kerr said, per ESPN's Chris Haynes. "There's no way. I mean, he'll be re-evaluated in three weeks. So, yeah, we have to be ready to play without him and see how he's coming along."

Curry suffered the injury in innocuous fashion as teammate JaVale McGee fell and collided with his knee, similar to the way Zaza Pachulia did with Kevin Durant last season.

Despite his head coach's view that he won't be ready for the start of the playoffs, the point guard is taking a more positive approach.

"Hopefully, I prove what coach said was wrong and put myself in position to get back as soon as possible," Curry said. "But right now, who knows? Just try to do my job in the rehab process and get back as soon as I can."

The 30-year-old's first re-evaluation will land around mid-April when the regular season is due to end.

Both he and the Warriors medical staff will review his progress and make a decision on his comeback accordingly.

"Based on what I've been told, three weeks is a good benchmark to re-evaluate and reassess where I'm at in my progress," Curry said. "Mentally, for me, [I'm just] staying positive and staying upbeat."

Having been through a similar situation with Durant last year, Kerr believes they're well equipped to deal with the loss of their three-point marksman and he's hoping Curry can come back and have the same impact that KD did when he returned.

"The good thing is we've been through this," Kerr said. "We've went through it last year with [Kevin Durant] ... It wasn't exactly the same timeline, but it was a similar injury and similar circumstances where we had to play without one of our best players.

"And we felt that appropriate fear and turned it up and got it going -- and then when KD came back, Finals MVP after missing six weeks. So, there's a lot of similarities here, and I think we should feel good about our ability to play through this stuff."

But with Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all on the sidelines too, it should be more of a concern for the Dubs this time around.

Having their stars enter the playoffs at less than 100% won't be ideal, particularly as they're bound to have a tough first-round series against the likes of the Utah Jazz, Minnesota Timberwolves or San Antonio Spurs.

It'll be an interesting few weeks ahead for the Oakland-based franchise and it certainly looks like they'll face their toughest test in the Western Conference since Kerr took over four years ago.

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