Steve Kerr Confirms Kevin Durant Will Start Game 5
By Jerry Trotta
After a month of the sidelines at the hands of a strained calf, Kevin Durant appears to be ready to hit the floor for Monday night's do-or-die Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Over the last 24 hours, KD has been upgraded from a game-time decision on Sunday evening, to expected to play by Monday morning, to a "full-go" by Monday afternoon. And if there was still a slight expectation from the most pessimistic of skeptics, we now have a Steve Kerr confirmation for Durant's availability. The two-time reigning Finals MVP will play -- and start -- Game 5.
Kevin Durant will play tonight, per Steve Kerr
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) June 10, 2019
Durant practiced with his teammates on Sunday for the first time since sustaining the calf injury, and he also participated in the team shootaround on Monday morning.
According to Kerr, the 10-time All-Star will start but will be on a minutes restriction, saying that he will evaluate No. 35 as the game progresses to see if he can handle heavy minutes during crunch time.
Kerr says he doesn’t want to put too much of a burden on Durant. KD will start, play in short spurts and Kerr will evaluate how he looks physically.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) June 10, 2019
Its worth pondering, however, if there will be a level of rust that Durant will be dealing with after a month on the sidelines and only a single practice under his belt.
It's certainly possible but we can all agree that the four-time Scoring Champ at 60 to 70% would still provide a MASSIVE boost for the Warriors, who have looked utterly lost without him at times against Kawhi Leonard and Co.