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Durant misses first game of season with finger injury
December 31, 2007
SEATTLE (AP) -- Kevin Durant missed his first game of the season with a nagging finger injury as Seattle played Philadelphia on Monday night.
Durant, who is averaging a team-high 19.7 points, injured the index finger on his left hand late in the first quarter Saturday against Minnesota. The rookie did not return. X-rays on the finger were negative.
"I like to play every game. I like to play the whole game," said the Sonics 6-foot-9 guard, the second pick in the 2007 NBA draft. "To sit out is going to be something new to me, something different. But it's only one game."
Durant, who played all 35 games in his lone year at the University of Texas last season, initially injured the finger in a Nov. 16 game against Atlanta.
"But this time I hit it pretty and couldn't go no more," he said. "It was pretty bad when I hurt it at first. Then (Sunday) I got some treatment on it and the swelling went down a little bit. But today I couldn't catch the ball. It started to hurt a little bit."
Durant wore a soft wrist brace that he said prevents him from handling the ball cleanly.
"LeBron (James) had the same injury and I talked to him about it," Durant said. "He said it took him about five days. I'm hoping that if I get some treatment and ice it a little more I'll be ready next game."
The Sonics' next game is Thursday at Phoenix.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...v=ap&type=lgns
