2:37pm: Durant will be sidelined for Game 4, Kerr told reporters today (Twitter link via Mark Medina of The Bay Area News Group). There was optimism that KD would be able to scrimmage today, but that won’t happen, according to Kerr, who added that the Warriors’ medical staff said the star forward is not yet game-ready (Twitter link via Blake Murphy of The Athletic).
Kerr confirmed that Thompson is expected to return for Game 4, and acknowledged that the possibility of Kevon Looney‘s return is now an “open question” (Twitter link via Murphy), as we relayed earlier today.
9:22am: Thompson will play in Game 4, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
8:47am: After falling to the Raptors on Wednesday night, the Warriors are hoping to add reinforcements to their short-handed roster in time for Game 4 on Friday night, writes Nick Friedell of ESPN.com.
As Friedell details – and as Tim Kawakami of The Athletic tweets – the Warriors are expecting Klay Thompson to be able to suit up on Friday after he was ruled out just before game time on Wednesday. Thompson wanted to play in Game 3, but Golden State decided to err on the side of caution with the sharpshooter’s hamstring injury.
“The whole point was to not risk a bigger injury that would keep him out of the rest of the series,” head coach Steve Kerr said, per Friedell. “So that was the decision we made, and I feel very comfortable with it. Never would have forgiven myself if I played him tonight and he had gotten hurt. … Klay has done well the last two days; now he has a couple more days to heal, and hopefully he’ll be out there on Friday.”
Meanwhile, Kevin Durant, who has been sidelined with a calf injury since Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals vs. Houston, is getting closer to a return as well. The Warriors are “cautiously optimistic” that KD will be able to play on Friday, according to Friedell. While Golden State isn’t expected to practice on Thursday, Kerr is hopeful that Durant will participate in some three-on-three scrimmages, Friedell notes.
“If possible, we’ll get him together with some of our young guys, maybe a few of our coaches, and try to get him out on the floor,” Kerr said of Durant. “That would be the next step.”
The Warriors have said throughout Durant’s recovery process that he’ll need to participate in at least one practice before he gets back on the court for a game. While Thursday’s session won’t technically be a full practice, it should give him an opportunity to take some contact, so the team figures to have an update at some point after those scrimmages.
They better. They can’t win without one of them at least. They played as hard as they could last night and it wasn’t near enough. Cousins is a shadow of his former self.
Dubs need all their players….just like every other team. Can’t forecast injuries.
like I said at the beginning of the season only way GSW lose is because of injuries. Last night bif Thompson was healthy it would have been a win. If KD is back raptors are in trouble.
Whatever, Thompson played game one and they still lost that.
Thompson played 2 games. Lost the first then won the second. It was evident last night a piece was missing. Too many second chance rebounds, loose rebounds, loose balls, and offense inefficiency did the Dubs in. Klay would’ve picked up the slack in those areas by being certain positions on court. Not saying hes grabbing rebounds but hes boxing out his man.
Siakam also went a ridiculous 14 for 16 from the field or something like that in game 1. That’s not gonna happen again…
Lotta things that happened in Game 1 & 3 for Toronto that wont happen again. Kyle Lowry won’t happen again. Realistically, Toronto SHOULD have won Games 1 & 3, playing against the Warriors at home with them not playing a game since like November. Game 3 GS was playing with their scout team playing starter minutes. Toronto should have won by 20+. If Klay is 90% and Boogie gives them ANYthing, Warriors in 6. If KD comes back, its a wrap for sure.
I agree the shooting line won’t happen again, but I think that has more to do with the Warriors defense than just Siakam’s offense. He was getting a ton of easy open looks right at the rim.
If he gets that space, he’ll hit those shots. Nothing in game 1 looked out of the ordinary to me, except maybe his level of confidence and aggression. Didn’t seem like being in the finals phased him at all, which has to be a little surprising.
Great player though. I thought he should have been an all-star this year.
Siakam is Darius Miles with a work ethic. I love what Siakam is becoming. And, he’s (indirectly) making me look good in that a kid I trained was the Mountain West Conference Newcomer-of-the-Year and was runner-up in Player-of-the-Year to Siakam the same season. The way Siakam is playing now, that runner-up title doesn’t look so bad lol
If GS wins tonite I have them winning in 6. Of course, that’s a big ig!
*if
Game one warriors played like garbage and raptors played the best they possibly could. Raptors barely won. Game 3 raptors played best they possibly could, and curry practically beat them alone. Raptors only chance is for the warriors to remain injured.
Raptors played the best they possibly could TWICE? Curry was great in Game 3 but I never got the sense that GS eas about to tie it up or go ahead – mostly because it seemed like the refs weren’t gonna lrt them. But, I’m sure Lacob doesn’t mind another game (6) back at Oracle – especially if they’re up 3-2!
Have you watched many Raptors playoff games this year?
In my opinion, they have yet to play a complete game against the Warriors. Maybe the big-time game and competition is getting to them a bit?
I don’t think the Raptors have played their best game yet – it seems to me like they have a lot more in the tank.
That said, they’re pretty banged up. Kawhi hasn’t looked like himself in weeks, and Lowry either avoids dribbling with his left hand, or he dribbles with just his fingers – nowhere near as smooth as his ball handling normally is.
But it’s the finals – everyone’s hurt and banged up. Maybe this is all the Raptors have left in the tank after two physically exhausting series?
I actually think they missed Klay’s defense the most.
But bringing him or another player in doesn’t just gift the Warriors with a better offense… for Klay to get shots, Steph will have to take fewer shots.
And Steph was unreal last night.
Warriors still scored 109 points for the 3rd straight game, but just weren’t able to stop the Raptors often enough.
The defense was missed so was the refs watching the basket. how do you miss 2 goaltending shots in the same game? Kerr probably announced it now because so the NBA refs will make the calls. The NBA wants it to go 7
I mean, they missed a goaltend in the previous game, and they let some pretty obvious carries/travels on Curry go. None of the goaltends or the carries etc were hard to see in real time.
The reffing wasn’t superb last night (and it hasn’t been great all series), but it definitely favored the home team, as the foul count and free throw totals would indicate.
Not all fouls are equal. Using the number of foul calls and free throws as a determining factor in fairness is not even close to accurate. It’s pretty obvious the league wants to extend the finals, and the league works against the warriors every chance they have.
I agree not all fouls are equal.
However, the whistles looked fairly in favor of the Warriors to me.
The Raptors were aggressive going to the basket and receiving a lot of contact that wasn’t called. There was a lot of contact at the point of attack with lots of hands on grabbing and pushing too.
But that’s just playoff basketball. You can’t expect the whistle to go your way. Especially on the road and even more so against the defending champs.
It seems unlikely that Durant is going to play at all in this series.
Saving himself for Brooklyn?
I think he’d play if he could… maybe he’s waiting until the Warriors are down 3-1 so he can come back and lead the team to a big come-from-behind championship victory?
I like the Raptors chances, but if Durant can play (and if he’s healthy enough to play half-decent defense), the Warriors will be extremely difficult to beat.