The Brooklyn Nets first lost James Harden 47 seconds into their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Milwaukee Bucks.
He stayed on the court for several minutes before eventually getting to his feet and walking back to the visiting locker room without assistance but with a pronounced limp.
Irving left the building using crutches and with his ankle in a walking boot, sources told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols.
“I really don’t know,” Antetokounmpo said, when asked what happened from his perspective on the play.
Before Sunday’s game, Nash — who had said multiple times in recent days that Harden has been “progressing,” offered more specifics, saying that he’s doing on-court work, including shooting, and still working through his rehabilitation.
“I don’t want James to be rushed back,” Nash said.
Milwaukee started to see its perimeter shots fall in Game 4, converting 16-for-47 from 3-point range in the victory.
“That’s his role on their team and I thought it was borderline non-basketball physical at times, but that’s the playoffs.
“He’s just guarding him,” Budenholzer said.
While nothing may change with the approach to guarding Durant, obviously everything changes for the Nets as they will wait to see what the prognosis on both of their injured stars.
Obviously James went down in Game 1, Kyrie went down at one point today, but they have a lot of talented individuals and a lot of talent as a collective unit on that team.
“For us, it’s about continuing to focus on our brand of basketball.
Still, it was clear the Nets were — understandably — impacted by Irving’s departure from the game.
“We missed him, obviously,” Nash said.