The Golden State Warriors escaped Game 5 by the skin of their teeth with a 106-105 victory over the Toronto Raptors to stay alive in the NBA Finals. But it came at a huge cost as superstar Kevin Durant appeared to have suffered a major Achilles injury.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob lauded the team's effort and resiliency but expressed his grief over their All-NBA forward's devastating injury:
Warriors owner Joe Lacob “I have experienced a lot since owning this team. Some lows and many highs. Tonight was incredible pride in the resiliency of our team. And respect for KD coming back with our backs against the wall. But I am also so unbelievably sad about the KD injury.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) June 11, 2019
There is so much uncertainty with Durant's injury, as this could change the outlook of several teams around the Association. Nevertheless, you have to respect the courage of the two-time Finals MVP in going out there despite obviously not being a hundred percent. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of a potentially career-altering injury.
Game 5 was a huge roller-coaster ride for the two-time defending champs. They were obviously very excited and pumped to have Durant back in the lineup after he missed a month with a calf strain.
He played well to start the game, scoring 11 points with three 3-pointers in the first quarter. But all of those highs came to a crashing halt when Durant himself crashed to the ground and clutched his right Achilles and subsequently limped back to the locker room.
It was devastating for the Warriors to see their brother go down again, this time with what seems like a more serious injury than the previous one. But they were able to gather themselves and sustain their lead throughout the game until Raptors superstar Kawhi Leonard decided to take over in the fourth quarter.
Leonard gave the Raptors a 96-95 lead midway through the fourth after trailing for most of the contest. He finished a personal 10-point run to put them up 103-97 with over three minutes left in the game. With Scotiabank Arena rocking and the Raptors carrying a ton of momentum down the stretch, the 2019 NBA championship was getting ready to reside in Toronto for the first time in history.
But the defending champs stayed composed and rattled off a 9-2 run thanks to three 3-pointers in crunch time from the Splash Brothers, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry, to end the game and gut out the win.
The wounded Warriors live to fight another day.
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