The situation is fluid, and no diagnosis has been reached, but a left knee injury Warriors center Andrew Bogut sustained in Monday night’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t look pretty.
Bogut went down early in the third quarter of NBA Finals Game 5 and remained there until play had been stopped some time later and with the help of others.
The initial diagnosis is a left knee sprain, and Bogut was scheduled to undergo an MRI before Tuesday morning. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said:
“We’ll see how that turns out. It didn’t affect things too dramatically because we were playing so many people at that position anyway. It would have been nice to have him available, but we played, I think, what, four, five different people at center, just trying to find something that would work. It’s unfortunate. Hopefully he’s okay. We need him. We’ll see how he’s doing.”
Bogut has played a significant role in this year’s playoffs and losing him for the final two games of the season would be difficult to overcome. He doesn’t always play big minutes but a good game for Bogut often means a win for the Warriors.
Golden State guard Shaun Livingston said:
“He was putting pressure on it, so that’s a good sign. He was walking and putting pressure on it, so that’s good.”
The Warriors training room, which sits on the right side of the locker room, in the back, is off limits to media and updates are generally provided by the team.
But the way Bogut’s knee bent when he landed awkwardly over Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith doesn’t inspire confidence that he’ll be back quickly.
Bogut was jockeying for a rebound two minutes into the third quarter and the Warriors trailing 67-64 when his upper half was forward, and his feet where they’re supposed to be in that situation, though his knee was bending backwards.
The 7-foot Australian, who has been with the Warriors since being acquired via trade from Milwaukee in 2012, has an extensive injury history that has caused him to miss 162 games in the last five seasons.
Bogut most recently injured his right adductor — a muscle near the groin — in the Western Conference Semi-Finals versus Portland and also missed some time with a concussion early in the season.
His status remains uncertain for Game 6 of the NBA Finals.
Jason Leskiw is SFBay’s Golden State Warriors beat writer. Follow @SFBay and @LeskiwSFBay on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of Warriors basketball.
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