Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant suffered a devastating injury in his return to action in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said he heard somebody on the bench say Durant “tore something” on the play:
"Somebody on the bench said he tore something." –Nick Nurse
— Henry Abbott (@TrueHoop) June 11, 2019
Nurse went on to lament Durant's injury in general and how tough it was to see such a great player go down on the biggest stage:
Raptors coach Nick Nurse on how he processed Kevin Durant’s injury pic.twitter.com/RCY2Vh4aW5
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) June 11, 2019
Durant suffered the injury early in the second quarter when he tried to make a move on Serge Ibaka. KD immediately grabbed down by his right ankle and laid on the floor before being helped to the locker room. The initial fear is that the Warriors star tore his Achilles.
This is a brutal situation for Durant, who fought hard to return to the court after initially suffering a calf injury just over a month ago against the Houston Rockets. There was plenty of speculation regarding his rehab and when he would return to the court, and it appears he made his return in Game 5 at well less than 100 percent in order to try to help his team come back from a 3-1 deficit.
Kevin Durant is now done for these NBA Finals and faces the prospect of missing some or all of next season as well, but the Warriors still have to try to pull off this comeback after winning Game 5 by one point. It was going to be tough sledding no matter what, but it has been made even more difficult now by what happened to their superstar.
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