Kevin Durant will have an MRI today to learn the severity of his strained right calf, but the Warriors are planning to play Game 6 — and likely longer — without him, writes Mark Medina of the San Jose Mercury News.
The injury happened late in the third quarter last night as Durant felt pain in his right leg after landing on a jump shot. He immediately walked to the locker room as fears grew on the TNT telecast and throughout social media that he had suffered an Achilles injury.
“I thought the same thing because he kind of looked back like he had been kicked or something,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I’ve seen that before with guys who have hurt their Achilles. That was my first question. I was assured it’s a calf strain, not the Achilles.”
A damaged Achilles would have affected not only the course of the playoffs, but this summer’s free agent landscape as well. Durant will be the best player on the market, and a damaged Achilles could have sidelined him well into next season.
So it was a relief when the training staff delivered the diagnosis of a calf strain, although chances seem remote that Durant will play any more during this series. He sat out for a week and missed three games with a calf strain in early January, although the sense of urgency to get him back on the court will obviously be greater now.
Medina notes that the MRI results will determine when Durant might play again. “Outside experts” tell him that a Grade 1 calf strain has a seven- to 10-day recovery time, which increases to four to six weeks for Grade 2 and three months for Grade 3.
The mood was upbeat in the Warriors’ locker room as they were able to regroup after Durant’s injury and take a 3-2 series lead. But the players understand that they will have to survive for a while without their leading scorer.
“We know we’re going to have to be near perfect to go down to the Houston without Kevin and win a game,” Klay Thompson said. “It’s going to be hard.”
It felt like the weights were taken off Curry’s ankles the moment he found himself out there without Durant. Curry is extraordinary and unstoppable, got to give credit where it’s due.
Chris Paul is making over 40 million a year, he better justify that contract these last 2 games and lead the Rockets to the WCF.
Curry may be good but the Warriors almost blew that game without Durant. Looks like what happened last year to the Rockets when Paul went down is about to happen to the Warriors.
Actually the warriors started to blow that game with Durant still out there. It was 57-37 Golden State with 2:56 left in the 2nd. When Durant went down with 2:11 left in the 3rd it was 68-65. Without Durant the warriors actually extended the lead from 3 to finish at 5. Not saying it’s a big jump but you can’t say they almost blew it without Durant.
Rocket fans are funny. Last year if we had Paul we would have won. this year they are complaining about Paul. Warriors are down 2 starters and GSW fans still believe they can take the series. That are true fans not folding because of a injury.
Lol naw the rockets blew that game when Durant went down. The warriors won’t fold like Houston did last year. Gotta love Chris Paul too, 40 mill a year to flop and disappear in the playoffs.
I agree Paul did not show up at all last night. Not to mention neither did Harden in the 4th. I mean 5 points in the 4th with Durant out? You had a chance to steal game 5 and Paul/Harden just didn’t get it done late.
The GSW defense was great and that is probably their key to winning out without Durant.
Houston looked unsettled, which is fine for the energized PJ Tucker or Shumpert, but poison to Harden, Paul and Rivers. Paul dribbled & dribbled but could not get clear.
Houston is not playing Faried. If he is not an option versus GSW they need to look into getting a different small-ball center for opposing the Hampton five… like Toronto did in getting Gasol to oppose Embiid.