Kawhi Leonard out for Game 2
The Golden State Warriors aren’t going to be facing the San Antonio Spurs at full strength in Game 2 as Kawhi Leonard has been ruled out.
Kawhi Leonard, the San Antonio Spurs’ star, will not play in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. He went down with an ankle injury in Game 1, after landing on the Golden State Warriors’ Zaza Pachulia, He exited the game in the third quarter and wouldn’t return for the rest of the game.
Leonard has been dealing with his ankle injury since the Western Conference Semifinals against the Houston Rockets. He twisted it after stepping on James Harden’s foot. He missed Game 6 of that series as his Spurs closed it out without him.
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Prior to landing on Pachulia’s foot, he stepped on teammate David Lee’s foot. That was the initial tweak. He was pulled out of the game, but returned to the floor shortly after.
He tried to take a fadeaway in the corner and Pachulia closed out too hard. He took an extra hop after the initial closeout and Leonard, unfortunately, landed on his foot and re-aggravated the injury. He limped to the locker room and wouldn’t come back out.
Gregg Popovich confirmed that Leonard would not play in Game 2 after the star’s MRI. No word yet on how serious the injury is, but it has to be significant if he’s missing the second game of the series. It’s a huge blow for the Spurs and for the fans on both sides.
Let us hope that Leonard can recover and get back for Game 3. The NBA world needs it because this series has the potential of being an all-time great one with him in it.