Durant exits with injury
Former MVP will have MRI done on left knee
WASHINGTON Kevin Durant injured his left knee and departed after only 93 seconds, the Golden State Warriors trailed by as many as 19 points in the first quarter and Stephen Curry missed a potential go-ahead three-pointer late, all leading to a 112-108 victory for the Washington Wizards, who got a career-high-tying 19 assists from John Wall on Tuesday night.
Durant hyperextended his knee and will have an MRI exam after teammate Zaza Pachulia was pushed into him by Washington centre Marcin Gortat. The 2014 NBA MVP and Golden State’s leading scorer and rebounder exited with zero points, ending his streak of 562 regular season games with at least 10 points.
Bradley Beal scored 25 points and Markieff Morris added 22, including a pair of free throws after Curry’s three was off-target in the final 10 seconds.
Washington had broken a 108108 tie when Otto Porter made two foul shots after being fouled by Curry on a put-back attempt with 17.5 seconds remaining.
Curry scored 25 points but made only two of nine tries from behind the arc. He started zero for three, making him zero for 14 after missing all 11 tries in a win over the Philadelphia 76ers a night earlier.
It was a rather sloppy game, with the teams combining for 39 turnovers, 20 by Washington. But it was back-and-forth down the stretch after a terrible start for the Warriors.
On a Wizards possession under their basket less than a minute into the game, Gortat tossed Pachulia aside. Pachulia stumbled and landed on Durant’s left leg. Durant immediately clutched at his knee, then hobbled around a bit. He stayed in for a few more possessions before limping off toward the locker-room when Golden State called a time out.
Washington led 39-20 on a fastbreak dunk by Kelly Oubre Jr. a little more than nine and a half minutes into the game. A bit earlier, the Wizards were ahead 29-14 on Beal’s nine-foot baseline floater — and right then, he was outscoring the Warriors all by himself, 16-14.
The Wizards were up 40-26 after the opening quarter, and 61-49 at halftime. But less than two and a half minutes into the second half, Golden State had sliced its deficit to 63-59.
With 2:10 left in the third quarter, Shaun Livingston’s pair of foul shots gave Golden State its first lead of the game, at 80-79, and it was 85-85 heading to the fourth quarter.
This was Durant’s first game in the nation’s capital since signing with the Warriors. The Wizards — and their fans — had hoped to try to sign him as a free agent last off-season.
Durant, 28, grew up in the area, and said Tuesday that he used to put too much pressure on himself performing in front of friends and family in Washington, D.C., “because I wanted to play well at home.”
Now, though, Durant said he tries to “approach it like a normal game.”
It also was Durant’s first game against his former coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Scott Brooks, who joined Washington this season.