The Golden State Warriors, without Kevin Durant, made quick work of the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference finals. It didn’t take long for them to realize the NBA Finals will be quite different.
The Warriors fell to the Toronto Raptors on Thursday night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, but there is some good news, as Durant might be nearing a return from a lingering calf injury that has caused him to miss the last six-plus games.
Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes reported Friday, citing sources, that the Warriors expect Durant to return midway through the series.
“There’s some optimism within members of the organization,” Haynes wrote, “that a Game 3 arrival could be viable, but there’s a stronger possibility that Game 4 is the most logical option, sources said.”
It has been hard to argue with the results so far. Durant suffered the injury in Game 5 of the second round against the Houston Rockets. Golden State was able to hold on and win that game before closing out the series with an impressive Game 6 performance in Houston. They then swept the conference finals, but the Blazers certainly put up a good fight. Golden State trailed for much of the series before rallying late to clip Portland.
The Warriors didn’t play especially badly in Game 1 against the Raptors, as Pascal Siakam really took over the game for Toronto. Some have even suggested the Warriors might be better without Durant, or at least more fun to watch. But Golden State obviously will take its chances with having arguably the NBA’s best player back in the lineup, especially considering how well Durant was playing when he went down with the injury. Not counting the game Durant suffered the injury, he was averaging 35 points per game in 10 contests, while shooting 51.8 percent from the floor.
