Stephen Curry Says He Can Play 30 Minutes in Warriors vs. Pelicans Game 3

Stephen Curry told reporters Thursday he believes he can play more than 30 minutes in Game 3 against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night, according to Melissa Rohlin of the Bay Area News Group. 

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr confirmed that Curry's minutes would be increased for the contest, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic:

Curry was brilliant in Game 2, coming off the bench to score 28 points with seven rebounds, three steals and two assists in 27 minutes. His shot certainly didn't look rusty from his 16-game injury layoff, as he went 5-of-10 from three.

And he noted that he wasn't planning on coming off the bench going forward, per Slater: 

Kerr also confirmed Wednesday that Curry would start after his one-game role off the bench.

"Oh yeah, yeah, he'll start Game 3," he told 95.7 The Game, per ESPN. "You don't keep a guy like that on the bench for long. ... He'll be in the starting lineup."

Curry's return makes a Warriors team that went 5-1 this postseason without him all the more dangerous. And his immediate return to form made Kerr comfortable playing him a healthy portion of minutes in his return.

"I would say it played out as I expected," he said. "I knew I would play him more than what we planned. I think we planned on 24 [minutes] and he got to 27, but he was Steph. He didn't take long to warm up, that's for sure."

"It felt great," Curry added, per Chris Haynes of ESPN.com. "Real eager as of late trying to get back out there and be with my teammates, and, you know, do what I love to do. To get back out there on the floor, play some playoff basketball and get a big win tonight, it was huge. It was a good feeling. The crowd was crazy and obviously we did what we needed to do in these first two games."