The Warriors reportedly believe that Kevin Durant tore his right Achilles tendon Monday night.
Durant went down in Golden State’s unbelievable 106-105 win against Toronto in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and is scheduled for an MRI today to determine the severity of the injury.
President of basketball operations Bob Myers held an emotional press conference, describing what happened and the hurt in the Dubs’ locker room.
DeMarcus Cousins called Raptors fans who cheered when Durant got hurt “trash,” and head coach Steve Kerr said it was “an incredible win and a horrible loss at the same time.”
Per ESPN:
“It’s an Achilles injury,” Myers said after the game, while holding back tears. “I don’t know the extent of it. He’ll have a MRI tomorrow. Prior to coming back he went through four weeks with a medical team, and it was thorough, and it was experts and multiple MRIs and multiple doctors, and we felt good about the process.”
Prior to Monday’s injury, Durant hadn’t played since injuring his right calf on May 8 against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals. He was initially ruled a game-time decision after going through Sunday’s practice and Monday’s shootaround, but Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before the game that Durant would play without any restrictions. It was a decisions Myers passionately defended after the game.
“He was cleared to play tonight,” Myers said. “That was a collaborative decision. I don’t believe there’s anybody to blame, but I understand in this world and if you have to, you can blame me. I run our basketball operations department. And to tell you something about Kevin Durant: Kevin Durant loves to play basketball, and the people that questioned whether he wanted to get back to this team were wrong.
“He’s one of the most misunderstood people,” Myers said. “He’s a good teammate, he’s a good person, it’s not fair. I’m lucky to know him. I don’t know — I don’t have all the information on what really the extent of what it all means until we get a MRI, but the people that worked with him and cleared him are good people. They’re good people.”
Warriors guard Stephen Curry followed Durant into the locker room as well.
“Sometimes the spirit tells you what to do,” Curry explained. “You don’t really make decisions, you just act on it. I can’t tell you what went through my head. It just felt right.”
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