(Photo Credit: FRANK GUNN / CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP)

Warriors Battle Raptors For Game 6 Win

Kevin Durant returned to the Golden State Warriors lineup on Monday night after missing more than a month of the playoffs with a strained calf muscle.

Durant gave the Warriors an early lift in Toronto, scoring 11 points in 12 minutes in a game against the Raptors the Warriors simply had to have to keep this series going. And then Durant’s problematic right leg gave out and the Warriors, who hung on for a 106-105 victory, knew they would have to try to win the next two games of this series, in which they trail 3-2, and maybe every other game forever, without KD.

Warriors general manager Bob Myers confirmed after the game that Durant suffered an Achilles tendon injury. The Warriors are due back in California later on Tuesday, at which time Durant will have an MRI. A tear could cost him next season, which was widely expected to be elsewhere as a prized free agent. He could, however, exercise his $31.5 million option with the Warriors for 2019-20.

Durant left ScotiaBank Arena in the third quarter, using crutches and wearing a walking boot. Later he would write on Instagram: “I’m hurting deep in the soul right now I can’t lie.”

The Warriors also lost Kevon Looney (chest) during the game, so the Warriors had to win the way they usually win – shooting 3-pointers. Stephen Curry (31 points) and Klay Thompson (26) combined to hit three consecutive 3-pointers to wipe out Toronto’s six-point lead with about 3:30 remaining and send the series back to Oakland (Thursday night).

“Even going down six with three minutes left, their ball, we didn’t panic,” Thompson said, “We just do what we do.”

They do. This is their fifth straight year in the NBA Finals. But whatever they do going forward, it will be without Kevin Durant.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman