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Durant practices, Game 5 status still uncertain

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Published in Basketball
Sunday, 09 June 2019 11:52

TORONTO -- Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant practiced with his teammates on Sunday -- marking the first time he has done so since injuring his right calf on May 8 against the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals. If Durant comes through Sunday's practice without any issues, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is optimistic that Durant could play Monday night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Toronto Raptors.

"He's going to practice with us today," Kerr said prior to the practice. "And he'll get some extra work in with some of our younger players. We'll gauge it from there."

The Warriors were hopeful that Durant would be able to make his return to action in Game 4, but he still had not been cleared for practice up to that point. With the Warriors facing a must-win game on Monday, down 3-1 to the Raptors, Kerr and his staff are holding out hope that Durant will be able to return. Kerr acknowledged being more hopeful about Durant's condition given the extra work he was scheduled for on Sunday afternoon.

"Yeah," Kerr said. "Because what he's going to do today he hasn't done. He's doing more today and then we'll know more after that."

The Warriors likely will have a shootaround on Monday morning, as they regularly do, which would give Durant another chance to test his calf injury.

"The hardest part about being an athlete is going through injuries," Warriors All-Star swingman Klay Thompson said. "Especially when your team is playing for a championship. It sucks. I feel for Kevin. I know what type of competitor he is and we obviously miss him dearly. But whether it's tomorrow or Game 6, we just have to do everything in our willpower to help him get back. If that's win a game and be patient, then we got to go do that."

Thompson does not think it will be difficult to integrate Durant back into the offense, even after missing so much time.

"He will be very welcome, I'll say that much," Thompson said. "I think it's pretty easy to realize we obviously miss him out there and he's propelled us to two championships in the last two years. So it would be pretty storybook if he could come back and help us do the same. But injuries are the hardest part of sports. You just got to play through them -- not play through them, but manage the injury. It's tough. I mean, I went through it. Kevin's is much more serious than all of ours, and I know how badly he wants to be out there. He's one of the best competitors I've ever been around."

Durant was not on the floor while the rest of his teammates got up some shots in the open part of Sunday's practice, but made his way to the court as soon as media and cameras were cleared away.

Durant's injury is one of several the Warriors continue to deal with. Thompson continues playing through a left hamstring injury, big man Kevon Looney is dealing with a non-displaced first costal cartilage fracture on his right side, while Andre Iguodala has been dealing with a lingering calf injury for several weeks.

Like Thompson, Warriors guard Stephen Curry doesn't think it will be tough to get Durant rolling into the rhythm quickly again.

"I don't think it will change much at all," Curry said. "It's just having another powerful weapon out there that can do some very dynamic things on the floor. We'll be able to adjust in transition pretty smoothly. He's been in plenty of Finals and has played well. No matter what percentage he's at, I'm sure he'll be impactful and effective out there. But again for myself or anybody in our rotation who's been playing a lot of minutes, we just have to be aggressive and smart and competitive, especially on the defensive end. And the rest should take care of itself."

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