San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Carlisle back after missing game due to false positive test
WASHINGTON — Rick Carlisle is back coaching the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday night at Washington after missing Friday’s win in New York against the Knicks due to a positive COVID-19 test.
Carlisle, in his 13th season coaching the Mavericks, said he had been vaccinated with two shots in January and was surprised to test positive.
The test turned out to be a false positive.
“I was pretty sure this was a false positive and I’m grateful that it turned out that way,” Carlisle said Saturday before the game against the Wizards.
The 61-year-old coach took three additional tests Friday after the positive test. Results of those tests were not available until after the game in New York.
The Mavericks beat the Knicks 99-86 with assistant coach Jamahl Mosley taking over while Carlisle stayed at the team hotel.
Durant expected back in lineup within week
Kevin Durant will make his return to the Nets’ lineup this
week. Steve Nash just isn’t sure which day.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the Nets’ matchup against the Bulls on Sunday, Nash could not pinpoint exactly which game the All-Star forward will return. Durant has missed 22 straight games with a hamstring injury, and the Nets are facing a back-toback with a looming game against the Knicks on Monday.
“I am not certain on Monday. I think that’s an outside possibility,” Nash said. “But I also couldn’t say, like, he’s in any stretch probable for Monday. I think it’s just wait and see. But it does look positive that this week sometime there’s a high probability he can return.”
A return against the Pelicans on Wednesday makes the most sense, as the New York Daily News suggested last week.
Durant is averaging 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists per game this season and was voted an All-Star captain.
Hayward sidelined with sprained ankle
Gordon Hayward will miss at least a month after spraining his right foot during the Charlotte Hornets’ win Friday night over the Indiana Pacers.
The team said in a statement Saturday that Hayward will be reevaluated in roughly four weeks. He was injured when he stepped on Myles Turner’s foot while driving to the basket in the second quarter and immediately crumpled.
The 31-year-old forward is averaging 19.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game in his first season with the Hornets on a $128 million, four-year deal.
Charlotte is already without rookie guard LaMelo Ball, out indefinitely with a broken right wrist.
This injury is on the opposite side of the gruesome broken left ankle Hayward suffered in his first game with the Boston Celtics in 2017. He was an All-Star in 2016-17 with the Utah Jazz.