After suffering an ankle injury in the third quarter in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard will miss game 2 tomorrow night.
Popovich said today that his superstar will not be available to play. The injury came when Leonard attempted a fadeaway jump shot and was being closed out by Warriors center ZAZA Pachulia. As Pachulia contested, he gave Leonard no room to land, resulting in the ankle injury.
Per Michael Wright of ESPN, Leonard described the injury as painful.”Just very painful,” Leonard said. “I tweaked it before, the last shot I shot. But it’s hard to tell right now. I definitely couldn’t go in that third quarter, with six minutes left.”
“Just very painful,” Leonard said. “I tweaked it before, the last shot I shot. But it’s hard to tell right now. I definitely couldn’t go in that third quarter, with six minutes left.”
Zaza got his foot under Kawhi again pic.twitter.com/2KXlSGinC6
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) May 14, 2017
The Spurs lost game 1 113-111 after being up by as many as 25 points. When Leonard went out, that lead quickly disappeared. After the game, Gregg Popovich lost it when asked about the injury and whether or not Pachulia committed a dirty play:
#Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich just blasted #warriors Zaza Pachulia for play that injured Kawhi Leonard in Game 1 #KSATsports #KSATnews pic.twitter.com/I3GqzIMz1G
— RJ Marquez (@KSATRJ) May 15, 2017