Warriors (and Knicks) fans are holding their breaths. Superstar impending free agent Kevin Durant exited Game 5 of the Golden State Warriors-Houston Rockets second-round series early with a right calf strain, and although the Warriors escaped Wednesday night with a 104-99 win to take a 3-2 lead, all the focus is on Durant’s immediate and long-term future. After pouring in 22 points, four assists and five rebounds through three quarters, Durant limped off the Oracle Arena floor while running back on defense in a scary scene. It’s unclear what may have triggered the non-contact injury just before the final quarter. The two-time reigning NBA Final MVP will undergo an MRI exam Thursday, but coach Steve Kerr said that Durant will definitely not play in Game 6 on Friday. “Honestly it was a little deflating for a second, and then we rallied,” said Stephen Curry, who scored 25 points on 9-for-23 shooting. “We’ll have to claw our way to one more win,” Curry said. The 30-year-old has been his usual dominant self this series, averaging 36 points, 4.5 assists and 5 rebounds in a whopping 45 minutes per night. Golden State nearly gave away what was a 20-point lead with an awful third quarter, when the Warriors managed just 15 points and committed six turnovers. The game was tied at 72 going into the final 12 minutes. But Klay Thompson finished with 27 points, including a key layup with 4.1 seconds left, to lead Golden State back to Houston ahead. James Harden scored 31 points for the Rockets, who will try to stave off elimination back home. Stephen Curry finished with 25 points on 9-for-23 shooting, but carried the Warriors after Durant went down. The Warriors’ win guarantees their loyal fans in the East Bay at least one more home game at Oracle Arena before the team moves to new Chase Center in San Francisco for next season. see also Steve Kerr says his Warriors were 'f--king giants' It looks like Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr is... “Tough loss. We had opportunities,” Houston’s Chris Paul said. “Rebounding, we actually was right there in the rebounds. We’ve got to be better, offensively, defensively, especially myself, turnovers. We didn’t get stops when we needed to.” Golden State has won each of the three previous playoff meetings against the Rockets during the last five years: the 2015 Western Conference finals, the first round the following year, and last season’s West finals by rallying from a 3-2 deficit. Once the postseason wraps up, it’ll become the summer of Durant, who has long been linked to the Knicks and their two max contract spots that could lure him and perhaps Kyrie Irving, too. — With AP<doc-sep>The good, the bad, and the questionable from Wednesday night’s Game 5s. Game 5: Warriors 104, Rockets 99 Injury Concern: Kevin Durant With 2:11 left in the third quarter of Warriors-Rockets Game 5, Kevin Durant reportedly strained his right calf when he landed after a jumper. It was a 15-footer over Iman Shumpert to push the Warriors ahead three points, a shot we’ve seen a million times: Durant’s long arms stretching overtop his defender, the net swishing for him on command. But as Durant retreated back for defense, something new: He reached toward his lower leg. And he reached in a way we have seen before—not a million times, but enough. It’s hard to forget what an Achilles injury looks like, and that was the worst feared for Durant as he left for the locker room. Oh no... Please don't let this be what we think it is for Kevin Durant. #Warriorspic.twitter.com/T50EOK7Eri — Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) May 9, 2019 A calf strain is a relief by comparison but is still no small thing: Last season, Durant missed seven days—three games—due to a calf strain. Loser: The Rockets’ Attempts to Capitalize It’s a popular question: How many Warriors need to go down for anyone else to have a chance? Take away one—Durant, for example, who left late in the third quarter with a calf strain—and Golden State will probably still win. The combination of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, and [traditional low-usage rate big man of your choosing] has won a chip before. But lose two Warriors—say, Durant and Green, the latter of whom fouled out with 1:14 remaining in the game—and it’s no longer a superteam. Houston beat Golden State twice in this series with the Warriors at full strength. On Wednesday, with their best chance to pull ahead in the series after Durant and Green went out, the Rockets failed to capitalize. Golden State played the entire final quarter without Durant, its best player. Meanwhile, Houston’s best player went into hiding: James Harden took only one shot after the 8:58 mark, when he missed a 3, and it was a layup with 18.6 seconds left. For the majority of the fourth quarter, the Rockets’ top scoring option didn’t look twice at the basket. It wasn’t as if Harden were having an off-night, either; his final line was 31 points on 10-for-16 shooting overall, 3-for-9 from deep, and 8-for-10 from the free throw line. His two sidekicks didn’t have the hot hand, either: Chris Paul went 3-for-14 from the field (0-for-6 from 3), and Eric Gordon 5-for-14. When asked about Harden being quiet in the fourth, Mike D’Antoni replied that “he kind of let it go a little bit, but we scored every time that he was quiet.” For the most part, this is true, save an Iman Shumpert missed 3 or a P.J. Tucker layup gone awry. And once Green had fouled out, Clint Capela was free to return to catching lobs unobstructed. Still, if there were ever a time for Harden, the man who led the league in usage rate this season, to take over rather than “kind of let it go a little bit,” it’s a tied series against the best team in the world. Winner: Steph Curry Returning to Form These playoffs haven’t been Curry’s best. To be fair, he’s had his share of great postseasons! But these—and this series against the Rockets, especially—haven’t been great, not by typical Steph standards or by any standards, really. Through the first four games versus Houston, Curry averaged 21.3 points on 19 shots. That’s 39.5 percent from the field. Even worse, he shot 26.1 percent from behind the arc, a.k.a. the Russell Westbrook special. The majority of Game 5 was headed the same direction. Before Durant’s injury, through almost three quarters, Curry had nine points on 4-for-14 shooting. He had taken eight 3s and missed seven. But after Durant left for the locker room, the real Steph Curry stood up. In the remaining quarter and change, he scored a quick 16 points on nine shots. Curry lighting up in Durant’s absence isn’t an example of the Ewing Theory—Durant is the Warriors’ best player, but Curry’s too close in talent for anyone to count the team out sans Durant—but it’s not new, either: Steph Curry had 16 points on 9 shots after Kevin Durant got hurt. For as long as KD is out, we'll witness old Steph: Curry with KD: 25 points on 17.5 shots per 75 possessions Curry without KD: 30.7 points on 24 shots per 75 possessions These are playoff numbers since 2016-17. — Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) May 9, 2019 Game 5: Bucks 116, Celtics 91 Loser: Kyrie Irving’s Irish Goodbye At a fan event in October, Kyrie Irving told the TD Garden crowd that he wanted to re-sign with the team this summer “if you guys will have me back.” After his second-round performance against the Bucks, I’m not sure Boston will. In fact, he played an awful lot like a man who doesn’t want that invitation. Irving shot badly in Game 5 and defended worse, finishing with 15 points, one rebound, one assist, one steal, three turnovers, two fouls, and a gaggle of missed assignments. He took one lone trip to the line and went 1-for-7 from behind the arc. Irving is one of the better point guards in a league congested with them, a crafty, iso-adept ball handler who was expected to thrive under Brad Stevens. Had Irving and his younger teammates never clashed off the court, as they did multiple times this season, Boston might’ve realized its potential on it. That’s the clean, easy rationale for this Celtics season, a letdown on all accounts. But locker room disagreements didn’t lose the Milwaukee series, a nonstarter offense led by Irving did. Related The Five Biggest Offseason Questions Facing the Boston Celtics Per ESPN Stats & Info, Irving is the first Celtic to go four straight playoff games taking 15 or more shots and making them at a rate lower than 40 percent since Sam Jones in 1966. (But, hey, Jones is a Hall of Famer.) Irving was all at once doing too much and not doing enough against Milwaukee, especially in Game 5: He opted for ornate jumpers in traffic over finding teammates, and on defense, he was sometimes not even close enough to his man to contest the shot. More questionable defense from Kyrie: George Hill is his man and Baynes has Giannis. What is Kyrie doing here? pic.twitter.com/GxUiPvHjjy — Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) May 9, 2019 Irving went on his runs, as he does. He entered the second quarter with 3:54 remaining and scored seven points in less than two minutes. But even those were unexpected, and from start to finish, there was the same degree of uncertainty in his performance in Game 5 as there was in his happiness in Boston all season. Winner: The Body of the Buck Let’s rewind to before the season began. Take the best player from each team in this series out of the picture. So, Giannis Antetokounmpo for Milwaukee, and for Boston …. Irving? Jayson Tatum? Al Horford? YABU? In October, I’d tell you Boston has the better remaining roster. Tatum will be a star, I would say; Gordon Hayward once was a star himself, in the very recent past; Al Horford, five-time All-Star, technically still is. But that was before Mike Budenholzer repurposed Jason Kidd’s mess (and before Irving destroyed Boston’s locker room chemistry) (and before Tatum trained with Kobe Bryant) (and before Hayward stepped back on the court). In the Bucks-Celtics series, Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe were the superior complementary players. They combined for 37 points to close out Game 5, making up for the Bucks’ other other starter, Brook Lopez, who went 0-for-7 from behind the arc for zero points. The Bucks go deeper, too. Malcolm Brogdon played his first game back after missing seven weeks. George Hill and Ersan Ilyasova racked up double digits. And then there’s Pat Connaughton, who played the most minutes of any Bucks reserve in Game 5 with 28, and who tied for a game-high 11 rebounds. Loser: Paul Pierce, the Prophet Sometimes the Truth can’t handle the truth.<doc-sep>
Things didn't look so great for the Golden State Warriors after dropping Games 3 and 4, but they were able to pull out a Game 5 victory, defeating the Houston Rockets, 104-99. Despite losing Kevin Durant for the entire fourth quarter due to a right calf strain, the Warriors rode Stephen Curry's 20-point second half effort to hold off the Rockets' surge to take a 3-2 series lead. With the Warriors leading 102-99 in crunch time, Golden State nearly suffered a costly turnover before Kevon Looney recovered a loose ball and Klay Thompson then converted on a layup to close out the game for the Warriors. It's unclear how serious Durant's injury is, but the Warriors might have to overcome his absence as they look to eliminate the Rockets in Game 6. Here are three takeaways from the Warriors Game 5 win: Sigh of relief When Kevin Durant came up lame after planting on his right foot for a jump shot, it was impossible to not think the worst: Achilles tear. It seemed to have all the signs, and the fate of not just the Warriors but, in many ways, the entire NBA landscape was hanging in the balance. When TNT's Allie LaForce reported that it was a right calf strain, everyone breathed a giant sigh of relief. Well, everyone except the Rockets, perhaps. We still have to see how long Durant will be out, and the calf strain might not even be an official diagnosis at this point. But all things considered, this is about as good of news as the Warriors could've possibly hoped for. Now that's a championship response Stephen Curry was, and largely still is, in the middle of one of the worst shooting streaks of his career. Given the stakes, it probably is the worst. When Durant went out, Curry had just nine points and was missing everything again. But when it came time to dig deep with Durant in the locker room, Curry was there. All told, Curry scored 20 of his 25 points in the second half. Klay Thompson hit huge shots. Draymond Green hit a monster three. Andre Iguodala made plays. Kevon Looney was the MVP of the game. On a night when the Celtics showed everyone what it looks like to wither up and die without a fight, the Warriors reminded everyone what the heart of a champion looks and feels like. You don't win three out of four championships by accident. Series is far from over When a best-of-seven series is tied 2-2, the team that wins Game 5 goes on to win the series 82 percent of the time. In other words, historically speaking, the Rockets have a less than 20-percent chance of winning this series. But it sure doesn't feel that way, does it? The home team has won every game in this series, and if Durant is out for Game 6, obviously you favor the Rockets in that game, and then anything can happen in Game 7. This series is far from over. CBS Sports was with you throughout Game 5 between the Rockets and Warriors. If you missed any of the action, take a scroll through our LIVE blog. If you are unable to view the live application below, please click here. How to watch Rockets vs. Warriors Game 6 Date: Friday, May 10 Friday, May 10 Time: 9:00 p.m. ET 9:00 p.m. ET Location: Toyota Center -- Houston, Texas Toyota Center -- Houston, Texas TV channel: ESPN ESPN Live stats: GameTracker GameTracker Online streaming: WatchESPN WatchESPN Odds: Not available at this time TV listings All games will air on ESPN, ABC, TNT and NBA TV during the postseason. Games on TNT and NBA TV can be streamed via fuboTV (try it for free). Odds and Analysis Check Sportsline's NBA pick sheet for all your daily odds. Who wins Game 5 of Warriors vs. Rockets? And which side of the spread hits in well over 50 percent of simulations? Visit SportsLine now to find out which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the projection model up over $3,000 on top-rated NBA picks.