Kawhi Leonard Injury: Spurs Playmaker Missed Game 4
Injured San Antonio Spurs playmaker Kawhi Leonard did not play for Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.
The Spurs faced the Golden State Warriors Monday night at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, without Leonard for Game 4 of the National Basketball Association's 2017 Western Conference Finals.
With another one of the main players of the Spurs missing, the Warriors swept the series — 129-115.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Hours prior to the game, the Spurs officially counted Leonard out for Game 4 still due to his sprained left ankle. Alongside Leonard, the Spurs also missed David Lee who recently injured his left knee.
Leonard's injury became a controversial one as many debate whether Warriors center Zaza Pachulia did or did not intend to step on Leonard's left foot that just recovered from a sprain injury a week before.
At Game 1, the Warriors were down by as much as 25 points. The Spurs were able to maintain their commanding lead until Leonard was injured halfway of the third quarter.
On Sunday, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich addressed the media and said he does not expect Leonard to play for Game 4. Coach Pop said: "It wouldn't make much sense. If he's unable to play yesterday, I don't think there's going to be a miraculous healing by tomorrow."
Meanwhile, in a column by Andrew Lynch of Fox Sports, it was mentioned that ruling out Leonard for Game 4 is pretty much the wiser decision to make, considering that they are already down by three games in a best-of-seven series.
Basketball fans have seen the Spurs make the same decision when they opted to let Leonard miss Game 6 of the Western Semifinal series against the Houston Rockets.
However, the main difference is that the Spurs had the advantage over the Rockets, while the Warriors is a star-studded team that is very hungry for a championship win.
After finishing their 2016-17 season run, Popovich had nothing but praises for his team. On the Spurs' Facebook page, he said: "We have seven new players this year. And for our part, I think they had a great season."
Coach Pop added that garnering 61 wins, having a well-played first and second round, and even stunning the Warriors during the first game while missing Tim Duncan's leadership with a bunch of new guys proved the team "did a fine job."
The NBA Awards 2017 Coach of the Year finalist also gave credit to the team's rookies, saying: "The young kids had a big part of that throughout the year and in the Playoffs. So I think their future is bright."
Despite missing the latter games this season, Leonard is one of the finalists for this year's Most Valuable Player award alongside James Harden of the Houston Rockets and Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunders.
Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors advance to the NBA Finals and will face whoever wins in the Eastern Conference Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics on Thursday, June 1, at 9 p.m. EDT.
