Klay Thompson pulled a muscle, Stephen Curry was lightheaded and Kevin Durant remained on the injury list but the Golden State Warriors head home with the NBA Finals deadlocked at 1-1 after a tense 109-104 win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
The Warriors missed two-time reigning NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant for a seventh consecutive game and now could be without sharpshooting Thompson, who scored a team high 25 points before hobbling off the court in the fourth quarter with a suspected hamstring injury.
And there was more bad news for Warriors coach Steve Kerr with Kevon Looney adding his name to the wounded list leaving with a shoulder problem.
โKlay said heโll be fine but Klay could be half dead and he would say he would be fine,โ said Kerr. โWeโll see. He pulled his hamstring.
โHe thinks it is minor, so I donโt know what that means going forward.โ
For all their talent the most impressive thing about the two-time reigning championsโ post-season performance has been their resiliency and depth.
Some of the new injury concerns could be offset by Durantโs imminent return, perhaps as early as Game Three on Wednesday.
Before Durant suffered a calf injury during Game Five of the Western Conference semi-finals three weeks ago, he was in the midst of yet another dominant post-season run, averaging 34.2 points per game in 11 contests.
The injuries have forced Kerr to lean on his bench which delivered again with Quinn Cook, Australian Andrew Bogut and Swede Jonas Jerebko providing productive minutes.
โIโm very proud of our team and in particular all the guys off the bench,โ said Kerr.
โQuinn Cook hit some huge shots, Bogut came in gave us big minutes, Jerebko as well. So it was a hell of an effort from the bench.โ
Curry, who finished with 23 points, left the game briefly and headed to the locker room saying he simply did not feel right but returned to lead a third quarter charge that swung the contest in the Warriorsโ favour.
With Game Three not until Wednesday Curry said he will have plenty of time to recover but even if he did not, someone would be ready to step in.
โCoach always talks about it, that everybodyโs going to have a chance to help us win a championship at some point, and just to stick with it and be patient,โ said Curry.
โAnd it shows itself over the course of a season and tonight was huge.
โWe need three more wins and we need it to keep going, but thatโs a part of who we are in our DNA, itโs not just what we say.โ
REUTERS
