All the sudden these Western Conference semi-finals have become very interesting heading into Mother’s Day on Sunday. The Portland Trailblazers won at home in Game 6 by a 119-108 count to send the series to a Game 7 in Denver. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum combined for 62 points while Rodney Hood stepped up big with a 25 point game.
On the other side of the bracket we get Golden State at Houston tonight with Kevin Durant now ruled out with a Grade 1 calf sprain for the rest of the series. Figures, doesn’t it? Durant won’t be able to play in his team’s two most impactful games of the season. It’ll be on Steph, Klay, Draymond and Andre to do the heavy lifting when it matters most for the Warriors’ chances of pulling off the threepeat.
No Durant and no DeMarcus Cousins and the word I heard was Andrew Bogut would be starting at the five with Livingston, Looney and McKinnie coming off what is now an even shorter and thinner Warrior bench.
For league wide suspense though it’s great. The West without Durant tipping the Warriors with a talent advantage is up for grabs this week-end. How ironic the two former Thunder players in Durant and James Harden will to a degree have their personal narratives defined by what happens this week-end.
If Harden can’t get past the Warriors without Durant will he and Chris Paul ever get to an NBA Finals?
And will Durant have to endure the Cupcake innuendos if his team wasn’t able to depend on him because of what is considered a somewhat mild injury?
Some great NBA storylines to unfold this week-end in the West.