The Latest: Warriors say Kevin Durant will play in Game 5
TORONTO (AP) — The Latest from Monday night’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals (all times local):
11:40 p.m.
Kyle Lowry’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was well off, and the Golden State Warriors rallied from a six-point deficit in the final three minutes to beat the Toronto Raptors 106-105 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.
The Raptors still lead the series 3-2. Game 6 is Thursday at Oracle Arena.
Kevin Durant left the game injured and Kevon Looney did the same, but the Warriors still found a way. Stephen Curry scored 31 points and Klay Thompson had 26 for the Warriors.
Kawhi Leonard had 26 for the Raptors. Lowry finished with 18.
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11:20 p.m.
Kevon Looney is not coming back to Game 5, and Kevin Durant has left the arena in Toronto.
The Warriors say Looney will not return after re-aggravating the upper-body injury that knocked him out earlier in the series and that he fought through in Game 4 and in parts of Game 5 on Monday.
Durant left the arena late in the third quarter in a walking boot and with the help of crutches.
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11:05 p.m.
Stephen Curry is up to 26 points, Klay Thompson has 20 and the Golden State Warriors lead the Toronto Raptors 84-78 going into the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
The Raptors are trying to close out their first NBA title. The Warriors announced during the third quarter that Kevin Durant was out for the rest of the game with a right lower leg injury.
DeMarcus Cousins has 13 points off the bench for the Warriors, who are 15 for 32 from 3-point range.
Marc Gasol leads the Raptors with 17, and four of his teammates are also in double figures. But Kawhi Leonard is just 4 for 15 from the floor, and the Raptors are 5 for 24 from beyond the arc.
The Warriors went on a 10-0 run to open a 77-63 lead — and the Raptors immediately answered with a 10-0 run of their own, fueled by a pair of 3-pointers by Fred VanVleet.
Including the playoffs, the Warriors are 58-6 this season when leading going into the fourth. The Raptors are 9-23 when trailing entering the final quarter.
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10:45 p.m.
Kevin Durant’s night is over.
The Golden State Warriors say Durant will not return to Game 5 of the NBA Finals because of a right lower-leg injury. The Warriors say an MRI will be performed on Tuesday to determine the severity of the injury.
Durant was hurt in the second quarter after scoring 11 points in 12 minutes. He had missed the previous nine games with a strained right calf.
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10:25 p.m.
Stephen Curry has 23 points, Klay Thompson scored 12 and the Golden State Warriors lead the Toronto Raptors 62-56 at halftime of Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
Kevin Durant scored 11 before leaving early in the second quarter with a recurrence of his lower right leg injury. The Warriors have not issued an update on his condition.
Marc Gasol has 15 points, Kawhi Leonard 13 and Pascal Siakam 10 for the Raptors. Toronto is just 2 for 12 from 3-point range and trailed by as many as 13 points in the half.
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10:05 p.m.
Some parts of the Toronto area lost power at a bad time — as Game 5 of the NBA Finals was starting.
Toronto Hydro says outages were reported in some parts of the area and that crews were dealing with them as Game 5 was tipping off. The utility company says most of the outages were fixed in the first quarter.
In a tweet to customers, the company said they “would like to thank everyone again for your patience — we know it’s a big day for the city. Let’s go Raptors!”
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9:55 p.m.
Kevin Durant’s comeback game may be over.
The Warriors’ forward, who missed the last nine games with a strained calf muscle, got hurt again with about 2 minutes gone in the second quarter. He was dribbling on the right wing and came up lame, falling to the floor and needing help to get back to the Warriors’ bench area.
He didn’t stop there, and limped to the Warriors’ locker room — yelling an expletive before leaving, in obvious frustration.
Durant had 11 points in 12 minutes.
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9:45 p.m.
Kevin Durant has helped Golden State take the lead after the first quarter of Game 5.
Durant made three 3-pointers and scored 11 points, Stephen Curry led everybody with 14 points and the Warriors lead Toronto 34-28. The Raptors are trying to close out the series and win their first NBA title.
Durant made his first two jumpers, both 3-pointers, then airballed one from about 16 feet late in the quarter for his lone miss from the field. He made another 3 late in the quarter.
Marc Gasol scored 10 to lead Toronto.
Durant played the first 6:10, and the Warriors led 19-16 when he departed. A heating wrap was applied to Durant’s calf muscle area by a member of the team medical staff after he returned to the bench, presumably to keep it somewhat loose during his time off the floor.
Durant returned with 3:33 left, and the Raptors outscored Golden State 7-4 during his absence.
Early fouls are an issue. Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Kevon Looney and Durant all have two for Golden State. Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet each have two for Toronto.
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9:20 p.m.
Kevin Durant is back, and the Golden State Warriors couldn’t miss to open Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
The Warriors were 5 for 5 from 3-point range in the first 5 minutes to build a quick early lead over the Toronto Raptors. Durant made his first two shots, both from beyond the arc.
The early trouble spot for the Warriors is Klay Thompson’s foul situation — he picked up a quick two personals.
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9:10 p.m.
Kevin Durant’s return to the Golden State Warriors’ starting lineup sent DeMarcus Cousins to the backup unit.
It was the “Hamptons 5” to start Game 5 for the defending champions.
The Warriors started Game 5 of the NBA Finals with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson at guard, with Durant, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala in the frontcourt.
Golden State has gone 3-2 in these playoffs when starting that lineup.
Toronto enters the night leading the series 3-1 and seeking its first NBA title. The Raptors usual lineup has started Game 5: Kyle Lowry and Danny Green at guard, Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam at forward and Marc Gasol at center.
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8:50 p.m.
“The Great One” is in Toronto to see if the Raptors can win their first one.
Hockey icon Wayne Gretzky is among the celebrities at Game 5 of the NBA Finals in Toronto. Several other big names from the sports world are in the crowd as well — including Canadian tennis star and former NBA All-Star Celebrity Game player Eugenie Bouchard, soccer’s Thierry Henry and Jonathan de Guzmán and hockey’s Claude Giroux and Evander Kane.
There are also plenty of actors as well, including Chris Tucker and the father-and-son duo of Eugene Levy and Dan Levy.
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7:40 p.m.
Kevin Durant is returning to the Golden State lineup.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr says Durant will play in Game 5, with the two-time defending champions facing elimination. Durant had missed Golden State’s last nine games with a strained calf.
The 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals MVP was cleared by the Warriors’ medical staff last week to attempt a return. Durant practiced Sunday and was a full participant in the Warriors’ shootaround practice Monday.
Durant had a 51-point game in Toronto against the Raptors in November.
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6:30 p.m.
The NBA says some portion of Game 4 of the NBA Finals was watched by almost 11 million Canadians, setting another viewership record in that country.
The average audience in Canada for Toronto’s Game 4 win over Golden State was 4.9 million viewers, nearly 600 percent more than the country’s number for Game 4 of last year’s series between Golden State and Cleveland. Combining the average audience in the U.S. and Canada, the 17.7 million viewers for Game 4 was up 4 percent over Game 4 of the finals last season.
Entering Monday’s fifth game of the series, roughly 16 million Canadians — in a country of about 37 million — have watched at least some part of the finals.
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3:15 p.m.
The Toronto Raptors can win their first championship and end Golden State’s quest for three in a row with one more victory.
The Raptors can do it Monday night in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, when Kevin Durant could play for the first time in the series.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr says Durant went through their full morning shootaround and said his ability to play would be determined before the game. Durant, the two-time NBA Finals MVP, has been sidelined more than a month with a strained calf.
Golden State sure could use him after Toronto won both games at Oracle Arena to take a 3-1 lead. That deficit has been overcome only once in the NBA Finals, when Cleveland did it against the Warriors in 2016.
On potentially the biggest night ever for Canadian basketball, the NBA announced there would be no singer for the Canadian national anthem, instead inviting all fans in the arena and across the nation to join in the singing of it.
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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.
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