McCaw on mend after scary fall
Guardoutofhospital, suffered spine contusion
OAKLAND >> Warriors coach Steve Kerr sighed. He then called it a “huge relief” that Warriors secondyear guard Patrick McCaw was released from UC Davis Medical Center on Sunday afternoon after clearing all preliminary X-ray, CT scan and MRI exams despite suffering a lumbar spine contusion stemmed from a hard fall during Saturday’s game in Sacramento.
Though McCaw, 22, missed Sunday’s game against Phoenix and
will stay sidelined at least through a two-game trip to Oklahoma City on Tuesday and Indiana on Thursday, the Warriors braced for worse news after paramedics moved an immobile McCaw off the court on a stretcher. Instead, McCaw plans to be re-examined by a specialist on Thursday after preliminary reviews also showed no structural damage or neural disruption. Kerr added that McCaw has started walking.
“That’s the only thing that matters that Patrick’s OK,” Kerr said. “Thank God.”
Kerr and other unnamed coaches and players visited McCaw late Saturday night. Then, Kerr said McCaw “was lying immobilized and maybe a little bit shocked” while on pain killers.
“It wasn’t really until this morning that I felt good about the news,” Kerr said. “Everything seems to be progressing now.”
That progress will take time, though. McCaw could miss further time with the Warriors having
only five regular-season games left.
“We haven’t given one ounce to the thought in the basketball aspect of it right now,” Kerr said. “We’ll wait and hear the reevaluation on Thursday and we’ll see what happens. But right now that’s not on our minds.”
In a group text-message chat with some of McCaw’s teammates, Warriors veteran guard Shaun Livingston sensed that McCaw still felt “frustrated” for obvious reasons. McCaw, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, already missed 13 games from mid February to mid March because of a fractured left wrist. The Warriors like McCaw’s defense, attitude and progress in becoming more aggressive on offense. He has averaged 4.0 points on 40.9 percent shooting.
“Situations like that could’ve been avoided. But it’s a freak accident,” Livingston said. “He was down. But it was right in the moment and inside the box when it happened.”
How it happened: McCaw drove to the basket for a layup and received a hard foul mid-air by Kings forward Vince Carter, which was later determined to be a flagrant
foul 1. McCaw immediately screamed in pain and rolled over on the floor after also nursing a lower back contusion the previous week.
Kerr was initially upset with Carter, but Kerr soon consoled Carter as the two stood near McCaw. Carter then spoke and hugged with several Warriors players and coaches, including Kerr, afterwards. The Warriors have maintained Carter did not foul McCaw on purpose.
“He’s not a dirty player. It was one of those situations where his brakes probably weren’t working the same,” Livingston said. “I can attest to that. He probably tried. Pat was coming so fast and he was moving and couldn’t move out the way. It was a freak accident.”
And it was a freak accident that Kerr said called the “scariest thing I ever experienced on a basketball floor” as both an NBA player, executive and coach.
“It was terrifying, especially being out there out on the floor and hearing him crying in pain,” Kerr said of McCaw. “Just to see him immobilized and the doctors going through the protocol. That’s the scariest injury for any athlete.”