TORONTO
\nWhen Golden State star Kevin Durant went down 12 minutes into his long-awaited comeback game Monday in the NBA Finals, players on both sides were stunned.
\nDurant, the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, suffered a right Achilles tendon injury in the Warriors\u2019 106-105 victory over Toronto, trimming the Raptors\u2019 lead to 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
\n\u201cIt was a real shock when he went down,\u201d Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. \u201cThere was just a couple minutes where it all seemed so eerie and strange and it took maybe a little bit for both teams to collect themselves.\u201d
\nDurant, who missed the past month with a right calf injury, planted his foot, pulled up and sat down on the floor. He was helped to the locker room and left the arena on crutches.
\n\u201cI just tried to refocus, but that was very deflating,\u201d Warriors guard Klay Thompson said. \u201cIt obviously inspires you to play harder knowing your best player can\u2019t be out there.
\n\u201cYou think of him every time you dive for a loose ball or go for a rebound, because I know him and I know how bad he wants to be out there. That\u2019s why he was out there. It sucks.
\n\u201cHe\u2019s a warrior. He sacrificed his health for us. For him to put his health on the line, to come back and compete at the highest level, we miss him. That\u2019s our brother. It\u2019s hard to even celebrate this win.\u201d
\nRaptors coach Nick Nurse was just as stunned after Durant opened 3-of-3 from 3-point range and finished with 11 points.
\n\u201cWhen anybody goes down you\u2019re saddened by it, but when one of the great players like that goes down, it\u2019s almost shocking,\u201d Nurse said. \u201cSome of the guys on our bench were really shook up.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s always a little eerie feeling for everybody when something like that happens on a big stage like this.\u201d
\nAs Toronto guard Kyle Lowry put it: \u201cIn this league we\u2019re all brothers. And it\u2019s a small brotherhood. You never want to see a competitor like him go down.\u201d
\nWarriors general manager Bob Myers said multiple doctors approved Durant to play.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t believe there\u2019s anybody to blame but I understand this world and if you have to, you can blame me,\u201d Myers said.
\n\u201cPeople that questioned whether he wanted to get back to this team were wrong. He\u2019s a good teammate. He\u2019s a good person. It\u2019s not fair.\u201d
\nWarriors swingman Andre Iguodala helped Durant back to the locker room, saying people don\u2019t appreciate the bond among the players.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s more than basketball. But no one wants to understand that part. They only care about the game,\u201d Iguodala said.
\n\u201cWe always talk about how this team is with one another, but people still don\u2019t really grasp what we\u2019re talking about. When we say this is like a real brotherhood, people have no clue what goes into that and how we feel about each other.\u201d
\nDurant can count on his teammates to be there for him, Warriors guard Stephen Curry said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TORONTO When Golden State star Kevin Durant went down 12 minutes into his long-awaited comeback game Monday in the NBA Finals, players on both sides were stunned. Durant, the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, suffered a right Achilles tendon injury in the Warriors\u2019 106-105 victory over Toronto, trimming the Raptors\u2019 lead to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n