It was his triumphant return to the court after sitting out the end of the Playoffs and the first four games of the Finals, and many questioned whether Kevin Durant was fully recovered from his injuries. During his Finals debut, Durant's right leg gave out on him and he sat on the court for a moment before he stood up and walked with a limp. He was escorted to the locker room with the help of the Golden State Warriors Director of Sports Medicine, Rick Celebrini.
Joining Durant in the locker room were Warriors general manager Bob Myers and forward Andre Iguodala. The power forward's strained right calf has been a concern for the Warriors who didn't give Durant clearance to return to the court until Monday. It's unquestionable that the Warriors being down 3 to 1 in the Finals was a contributing factor to his return, but it's safe to say that they'll have to continue on this series without Durant by their sides.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters before the game, “I don't want to put too much of a burden on him. It's been a while, we don't know how it's going to go, how it's going to look, but just his mere presence makes a huge difference for us, so we'll start him and play him in short bursts and see how he responds physically, see if his wind is OK and as the game goes, we'll try to figure it out from there.”
Dwyane Wade tweeted his respect for Durant. "Even with all the things @KDTrey5 has done. This is the most fan(ed) out I’ve been," Wade wrote. "He knew he wasn’t right but he wanted to be there for his brothers. That’s sports! That’s love!
