Warriors’ McCaw passes all tests after scary fall.
After he cleared all tests, including an MRI exam, Warriors guard Patrick McCaw was released from the hospital Sunday afternoon.
McCaw, who sustained a lumbar-spine contusion after a scary fall in Saturday night’s win over the Kings and momentarily lost feeling in his legs, will be re-evaluated by a specialist Thursday. With McCaw not expected to join the team on its upcoming two-game road trip, he will miss at least three games: Sunday against Phoenix, Tuesday at Oklahoma City and Thursday at Indiana.
The earliest he could come back is Saturday against New Orleans. Dr. Neel Anand, director of spine trauma at CedarsSinai Spine Center in Los Angeles, estimated that the typical recovery timetable for a lumbarspine contusion is 5 to 7 days.
“Literally, I just heard in the
last couple of hours that he was going to be OK in terms of walking,” Golden State head coach Steve Kerr said of McCaw. “So, we haven’t given one ounce of thought to the basketball aspect of it right now. We’ll have a re-evaluation on Thursday, and we’ll see what happens. But right now, that’s not on our minds.”
With the Warriors up 86-69 in the waning seconds of the third quarter Saturday, McCaw caught a pass from Jordan Bell, made a layup and was inadvertently undercut by Sacramento’s Vince Carter. McCaw landed hard on his back, screaming as he writhed on the floor.
A team trainer rushed to McCaw’s side as a hush fell over the crowd. During the next 10 minutes, as the trainer tended to McCaw, coaches and players from both teams crowded around him. After McCaw was placed on a stretcher and wheeled off the floor, the Kings and Warriors huddled under Golden State’s basket for a brief prayer.
McCaw was taken to UC Davis Medical Center, 6 miles from Golden 1 Center, where some of his coaches and teammates visited him. It was a major relief when an MRI, an X-ray and a CT scan returned clean.
“The bottom line is he’s just got a bruise, a bad bruise,” said Anand, who hasn’t worked on McCaw, but was briefed on the details of his injury. “That’s really good news, especially in the lower back. A contusion of the neck is very different than a contusion in the lower back. A contusion in the neck, you’re dealing with the spinal cord. A contusion in the lower back, you’re dealing with nerves.”
Added Kerr: “When we got (to the hospital), he was not doing great. He was lying immobilized, and he may have been a little shocked. I think he had some pain killers. But it wasn’t until this morning that I felt good about everything, and it seemed like he had been progressing well.”
McCaw has had a tough time building off a surprisingly productive rookie season. His threepoint shooting percentage is 23.8, nearly 10 points below last season’s clip. McCaw is averaging the same number of points per game he did as a rookie (four), in slightly more minutes.
After going six games without a point, he took a voluntary demotion in February to get extended playing time with Golden State’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz. Since returning last month from a fractured left wrist that sidelined him 13 games, McCaw has been noticeably more aggressive, taking open shots that he would have turned down earlier in the season.
On Saturday, McCaw had seven points, two rebounds, two steals and a block in 16 minutes. McCaw, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, is considered by many in the organization to be an important franchise building block.
“Just a huge relief,” Kerr said of McCaw being diagnosed with a lumbar spine contusion. “Last night was really terrifying, and all the news has been good this morning. He’s up walking. … The only thing that matters is that Patrick’s OK.”