Warriors don’t expect to see Kevin Durant suit up until Game 3
TORONTO — Careful with his words, Warriors coach Steve Kerr sounded as if Kevin Durant won’t be available until Game 3 when the series resumes in Oakland, Calif.
Officially, Durant has been ruled out of only Thursday’s Game 1 with a calf strain — another term for a partial tear. Durant, who has been out three weeks, has yet to be cleared for practice.
Durant did not join the Warriors during shooting drills at Scotiabank Arena during the portion of practice the press was allowed to witness. He also did not participate in the press conferences, excused by the NBA.
Kerr said Durant first needs to do on-court drills before being cleared for a practice. The Warriors have two days off between Games 1 and 2, but it seems there will not be enough time to do everything Kerr specified. If the Warriors keep winning, why rush? They are 31-1 when KD sits and Stephen Curry plays.
“His next step is individual court work, so that will be the next priority over the next couple of days,’’ Kerr said Wednesday. “Hopefully he can wrap that up, and then he’s going to have to practice. We have to see him in practice before he can play a game, and he hasn’t practiced yet.’’
It’s got to be eating at him, said Serge Ibaka, his former teammate with the Thunder and now with the Raptors.
“I know one thing about my boy, he loves this game,’’ Ibaka said. “He loves to play. That’s one thing nobody can take from him — the passion playing basketball. All his life has been about basketball. Him not being able to play, he’s hurt. He’s not going to be enjoying wherever he’s going to be. I know they showed him celebrating when they won in Houston [in the second round.] But know Kevin, he’s not enjoying.’’
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Center DeMarcus Cousins said “a best plan moving forward’’ is being hatched for his return in the series and didn’t sound too confident about playing in Game 1. The mercurial big man in his first year with Golden State has been out since early in the first round with a quad injury and is struggling with conditioning. “It’s healed,’’ Cousins said.
Kerr said if it was the regular season, he’d throw Cousins out there to get him reps.
“He would play whatever minutes he could tolerate and we would build him up from there,’’ Kerr said. “This is not the regular season. This is the Finals. So we have to figure out what’s the best way to utilize him, how many minutes can he play, what the game feels like, what the matchups are.’’
It sounded as if Cousins might be reserved only for garbage time.
Curry lived in Toronto for a couple of years during part of his high school days when his his father, Dell, was with the Raptors. Curry’s wife, Ayesha, is from the Toronto suburb Markham.
“A lot of family history and that side of the family still lives here,’’ Curry said. “To be in the NBA Finals it’s something I’ve even been looking forward to if they ever made it. I’m going to enjoy it.”