Warriors' Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney To Play In Game 4; Kevin Durant Will Not Play
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Injured Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson will play in Friday's Game 4 of the NBA Finals, but Kevin Durant will remain on the sidelines continuing to rehabilitate his injured calf, head coach Steve Kerr said.
Without Thompson or Durant in the lineup on Wednesday night, the Warriors offense was carried almost entirely by Steph Curry, who scored 47 points in a 123-109 loss to the Toronto Raptors. It was the second highest scoring game ever by a player in a finals game loss.
"Klay will plan on playing tomorrow so we expect him to play barring something unforeseen," Kerr said. "He's continued to improve. So that's good news. Kevin will not play."
While Kevon Looney was initially ruled out for the remainder of the Finals, Kerr said the team was getting a second opinion on his injury.
"We are gathering information," the Warriors head coach said. "Second opinion type thing. It's an open question. As we gather information, we'll know more."
Around 4:15 p.m. Friday afternoon, Kerr announced that Looney will play in Game 4 during a press conference.
Kevon Looney will play tonight, Steve Kerr says.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) June 7, 2019
Durant, who has been out since injuring his calf in Game 5 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals, is making progress in his recovery but has a ways to go before he can return to game action.
"He will continue to get treatment and get on the court and continue to work, but will be unavailable for Game 4," the Warriors coach said. "It's about when the training staff tells me he's ready. He's been doing individual work on the court. He's been in the training room, the weight room. He's been doing a lots of different things. The training staff said he's not ready to play in a game yet."
The Warriors had planned to have Durant take part in a practice scrimmage with reserves and G League players on Thursday, but were forced to scrap those plans.
"That's something that will happen in the coming days, but not today," Kerr said.
As for Wednesday night's game, Kerr said he was extremely disappointed with his team's defensive effort. The Raptors shot 52.4 percent from the field and 44.7 percent from beyond the 3-point line.
Danny Green, in particular, was able to get open looks from the 3-point line. He hit of 6-of-10 shots from deep, scoring 18 points.
"Our defense was poor last night," Kerr said. "In particular several times leaving Danny when we didn't need to. He's a shooter who commands attention and respect. There were at least three of his shots where we just drifted away from him. We got to stay connected to him."
He also said some of the defensive laps were related to both Thompson and back-up center Kevon Looney not being able to play in Game 3. Looney was lost to a shoulder injury in Game 2.
"When you change the lineups and you're without some key guys, now you are ending up with five guys on the floor who generally haven't play together a whole lot," Kerr said. "While the effort was there, the execution was not. We watched tape this morning, we saw all kinds of stuff that we did poorly that we have to clean up."