Durant set to return this Saturday against New Orleans

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/1...nt-knee-injury

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The Golden State Warriors have targeted Saturday night's home game against the New Orleans Pelicans as the return date for Kevin Durant provided that the All-Star forward experiences no setbacks in the final stages of his recovery from a sprained left knee, league sources told ESPN.

Sources told ESPN on Monday that Durant's excellent progress since suffering a sprained MCL and bruised tibia at Washington on Feb. 28 has him on course to play in Golden State's final three regular-season games.

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Yeah yeah, not specifically Spurs-related...half the discussion on here is about the Warriors anyway though so whatever :lol

Will be interesting to see how he looks in the last 3 games. He must be looking pretty great recovery-wise for them to feel comfortable letting him return before the playoffs.

Nice, hurry his recovery.

Durant must be feeling all the love from NBA fans!!

Might as well. I want him included when someone takes them down (be it Spurs, Cavs [again], Celts, or some surprise team)

Could be blessing in disguise for their competition..The Warriors are at their absolute best when Curry is unchained and left to his own devices as the clear #1 option on that team..

Heck even their defense has been better without KD..Fuckin' embarrassment of riches :lol They are destroying the league without him right now..

Durant has completely nuked his legacy with his gutless Golden State move. Just imagine how better his narrative would have looked had he joined Boston (an awesome and tricky matchup for Warriors already) and gone through Lebron/Warriors to a ring..He would have ruled the East with the Cs for next 3-4 years..

Pretty much fits the original prognosis...Maybe a little faster than expected.

Either way, it was more than likely he'd be back by the 2nd round of the playoffs, so pretty much a non-issue.

Maybe he is pushing his return and won't be 100%?

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Originally Posted by spursistan

Could be blessing in disguise for their competition..The Warriors are at their absolute best when Curry is unchained and left to his own devices as the clear #1 option on that team..

Heck even their defense has been better without KD..Fuckin' embarrassment of riches :lol They are destroying the league without him right now..

Durant has completely nuked his legacy with his gutless Golden State move. Just imagine how better his narrative would have looked had he joined Boston (an awesome and tricky matchup for Warriors already) and gone through Lebron/Warriors to a ring..He would have ruled the East with the Cs for next 3-4 years..

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Warriors were actually starting to rekindle some of their chemistry without Durant during their win-streak. Now they gotta pull a quick change-up and go back to the old script.

Obviously, GSW with Durant is about as scary as it gets...but it's also an unknown variable. They won a championship with their old formula, so its tried and true.

I hope his leg breaks off.

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Originally Posted by Robz4000

I hope his leg breaks off.

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About time you said something legit. :lol

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Originally Posted by Robz4000

I hope his leg breaks off.

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:lol

It was a blessing in disguise.

Steph, Klay and everyone else were able to get some more reps and confidence. Steph looks much better than he did in the first half of the season.

It's their title to lose.

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Originally Posted by spursistan

Could be blessing in disguise for their competition..The Warriors are at their absolute best when Curry is unchained and left to his own devices as the clear #1 option on that team..

Heck even their defense has been better without KD..Fuckin' embarrassment of riches :lol They are destroying the league without him right now...

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Warriors were 50-9 before KD went down against Washington with a net rating of +12.7 (DRTG = 104.4). Since he went down, they've gone 13-5 with a net rating of +8.3 (DRTG = 104.8).

Sorry, but unless KD is just a complete shell of himself, I don't see how you could argue KD returning is good for opposing teams :lol We're talking about a top 3-5 player in the league who was playing at an MVP-level...sure, they might take a little while to adjust again, but in the end it makes their ceiling MUCH better. Not like they'll be facing any real threats until the WCF, anyways...at which point KD will have been back for weeks.

I feel as though we are starting to slip into regular fandom. Where it's really cool just to make it to the playoffs even if we get tossed in the 1st round. That WCF or bust Phoenix Suns fan type of mentality. I don't want that to happen but I do want to be realistic as well.
A big part of me still believes that we can pull it off. Another part of me remembers a few Dubs games I've seen this season.

Honestly, that loss that we just took from them doesn't even bother me. Pop messed with the line up and took his foot off their throats and I don't see that happening in the playoffs. We'll see.

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Originally Posted by SpursFan86

Warriors were 50-9 before KD went down against Washington with a net rating of +12.7 (DRTG = 104.4). Since he went down, they've gone 13-5 with a net rating of +8.3 (DRTG = 104.8).

Sorry, but unless KD is just a complete shell of himself, I don't see how you could argue KD returning is good for opposing teams :lol We're talking about a top 3-5 player in the league who was playing at an MVP-level...sure, they might take a little while to adjust again, but in the end it makes their ceiling MUCH better. Not like they'll be facing any real threats until the WCF, anyways...at which point KD will have been back for weeks.

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Let it go. There is no reasoning with that way of thinking. Realistic fan realizes how big of a beast they are. Who wants to be like that though? We want to believe we can beat them and have to grasp at any straw that we can.

Just hand them the ring imo

No need to wach anymore

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Originally Posted by I. Hustle

I feel as though we are starting to slip into regular fandom. Where it's really cool just to make it to the playoffs even if we get tossed in the 1st round. That WCF or bust Phoenix Suns fan type of mentality. I don't want that to happen but I do want to be realistic as well.
A big part of me still believes that we can pull it off. Another part of me remembers a few Dubs games I've seen this season.

Honestly, that loss that we just took from them doesn't even bother me. Pop messed with the line up and took his foot off their throats and I don't see that happening in the playoffs. We'll see.

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Spurs had a good 10 years being front-runners (98-08), and even then they only rang 40% of the time. We can debate bad bounces and what-ifs until the cows come home, but even having a decade of dominance is more than most fans get to experience.

We've been dark horses really since '09...but we all saw what can happen in '13 and '14 when you get a good playoff run going. And it can happen again this year...no team is unbeatable in a 7-game series. Warriors are a huge obstacle, to be sure...but so were the Heatles, and we sure gave them a run for their money.

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Originally Posted by SpursFan86

Not like they'll be facing any real threats until . . .

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Sometime next decade?

The ratings wouldn't be as big without them, but that's the small picture view. In the grand scheme of things, it would great for the league if at least one of them or James wasn't in the Finals. At some point, casual fan will get sick of this inevitability (people bring up the Bulls and Lakers, but they were merely overwhelming favorites; not virtual guarantees, thought to have no legit challengers) and tune out.

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Originally Posted by Dex

Spurs had a good 10 years being front-runners (98-08), and even then they only rang 40% of the time. We can debate bad bounces and what-ifs until the cows come home, but even having a decade of dominance is more than most fans get to experience.

We've been dark horses really since '09...but we all saw what can happen in '13 and '14 when you get a good playoff run going. And it can happen again this year...no team is unbeatable in a 7-game series. Warriors are a huge obstacle, to be sure...but so were the Heatles, and we sure gave them a run for their money.

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You might have just turned me around with REMEMBER THE HEATLES

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Originally Posted by Robz4000

I hope his leg breaks off.

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http://www.clker.com/cliparts/2/9/c/..._01.svg.hi.png

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Originally Posted by MaNu4Tres

It was a blessing in disguise.

Steph, Klay and everyone else were able to get some more reps and confidence. Steph looks much better than he did in the first half of the season.

It's their title to lose.

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This. Durant coming in will, most likely, throttle the silky smooth offensive flow they've been going through these past 11 games. It's not as simple as simply throwing Durant back into the mix and expecting all the pieces to come together nicely. Great chance Durant's return will put a deathgrip on Curry's offensive output.

Unfortunately, well who knows Bucks, 76ers, Wolves, Spurs (FA, Kawhi, Bertans and Co.) or Heat (Pat Riley will recharge, he always does)

i'm saving this thread..

Of course Durant is coming back. They've won 11 in a row without him.

I just can't be sold on a mentally weak group of unproven pussies. This regular season dominance is fooling everyone, but people seem to forget last seasons historical regular season. Not every single thing goes your way in the playoffs. You have to overcome adversity. Championships are anything but easy to win. The Warriors just don't strike me as that team that can overcome that unless that other elite team outchokes them or is injured. They fucking lost a 3-1 NBA Finals lead with homecourt advantage and a 73-9 historical record and a unanimous MVP on the line. Those demons don't go away. They resurface again in the postseason. They'll face plenty of playoff adversity again. This "unbeatable" talk is laughable. Those type of teams (96 Bulls and 01 Lakers) are rare. Last years Warriors had the best "chance" for that type of run and failed.

They should play him 40 minutes at least tbh.

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Originally Posted by UZER

Of course Durant is coming back. They've won 11 in a row without him.

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:lol

Fuck those pussies whole team of chokers.

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Originally Posted by spursistan

Durant has completely nuked his legacy with his gutless Golden State move. Just imagine how better his narrative would have looked had he joined Boston (an awesome and tricky matchup for Warriors already) and gone through Lebron/Warriors to a ring..He would have ruled the East with the Cs for next 3-4 years..

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Originally Posted by Robz4000

I hope his leg breaks off.

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These two statements about sum up my feelings about Durant! At least we've stopped hearing about how he went to UT for a couple weeks! "Nuked his legacy" indeed. :lol

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Originally Posted by spursistan

Could be blessing in disguise for their competition..The Warriors are at their absolute best when Curry is unchained and left to his own devices as the clear #1 option on that team..

Heck even their defense has been better without KD..Fuckin' embarrassment of riches :lol They are destroying the league without him right now..

Durant has completely nuked his legacy with his gutless Golden State move. Just imagine how better his narrative would have looked had he joined Boston (an awesome and tricky matchup for Warriors already) and gone through Lebron/Warriors to a ring..He would have ruled the East with the Cs for next 3-4 years..

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I agree with this. I think it reflects on KD's mental toughness that he didn't think he could lead a team on his own. I hope the Warriors lose some of their current mojo when he's back.

Can't wait to see Raymond going hard on him again.