Kevin Durant out with rib fracture as Warriors fall to Kings

OAKLAND – A shorthanded Warriors team lost to the Sacramento Kings 98-93 Friday night. And the loss was only part of the bad news.

The Warriors announced that Kevin Durant has an incomplete rib cartilage fracture. They will re-evaluate his injury in two weeks.

Durant suffered the injury Sunday in Minnesota when the Warriors lost to the Timberwolves 109-103. He stayed in the game, played through the injury and scored 39 points.

The Warriors didn’t list Durant on their injury report three days later before they played the Los Angeles Lakers. Durant played more than 35 minutes in that game and scored 26 points.

On Thursday, Durant was on the injury report with “right rib soreness.” The Warriors said he was day to day.

“(Friday) morning, he came to shootaround and got his usual pre-shootaround workout,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “And he reported some stiffness. And then, when he was moving around, he was uncomfortable. So, we didn’t want to take any chances. Sent him in for his MRI.”

“It hurts when I laugh,” Durant said after shootaround Friday morning, courtesy of the Warriors PR department. “And you just made me laugh. Right now, since (the injury is) so new, getting up out of bed and out of my seat, just normal movements throughout the day, not even basketball movements, that irritates it.”

Gary Furness, a doctor from Santa Rosa and a member of the California Athletic Commission, provided his diagnosis of Durant’s injury Friday night. Furness has not examined Durant - this is what Furness knows in general.

“My best guess is there’s a crack in the cartilage,” Furness said. “That sometimes is called a rib fracture. It almost certainly is in the front of his chest. They call it a partial.

“What that usually means is, on an X-Ray or MRI, you can see a linear crack, but it doesn’t go from top to bottom. It’s only partial. So, the good news is, assuming it’s a single rib, it’s going to be held in place and can’t go anywhere. But it can sure hurt.

“He should be good to go probably in three-plus weeks. But I’d be surprised if it was less than three. I don’t care how tough you are - it hurts every time you take a deep breath.

“And if the crack is more than hairline, double the healing period.”

Durant wasn’t the only Warriors All-Star who sat out Friday night. Klay Thompson missed his second game in a row with a fractured thumb on his shooting hand, and Stephen Curry missed his fourth game in a row with a sprained right ankle.

The Warriors were missing their top three scorers, who average 72.6 points per game.

Their only healthy All-Star was Draymond Green, who had 14 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks against the Kings.

“More shots for me, baby,” Draymond said with a laugh after the game.

Before the game, Kerr revealed his makeshift starting lineup - Green, Quinn Cook, Nick Young, Andre Iguodala and Zaza Pachulia. Then, Kerr identified what that group had to do to win.

“Nights like this, it usually starts with the defense,” Kerr said. “If you can bring good defensive energy, you can get some momentum, some traction in the game.”

But the Warriors didn’t bring defensive energy early. The Kings shot 63.6 percent from the field in the first quarter.

And yet, the Warriors led by seven points at the end of the first quarter. They shot 66.7 percent from the field. And Cook, filling in for Curry, made all five of his shots, including three 3s, and scored 13 points. Cook finished the game with a team-high and career-high 25 points.

When the second quarter began, the Warriors led 36-29.

Then, forward Omri Casspi sprained his right ankle after landing on David West’s foot three minutes into the second quarter.

Casspi immediately left the game and did not return. Without him, the Warriors were missing five injured players.

The Kings went on a 15-7 run after Casspi’s injury and tied the game at 52.

At halftime, the Warriors led 59-57. And when the fourth quarter started, the Warriors and Kings were tied at 75.

With 25.7 seconds left in the game, the Kings took a one-point lead when Buddy Hield hit one of two free throws. On the next possession, Green attempted a game-tying 3-pointer, and bricked off the side of the backboard.

Hield made two more free throws, then center Willie Cauley-Stein blocked Nick Young’s jumper and the Warriors lost. They scored just 34 points in the second half.

“We’re in good shape,” Kerr said. “We’ve just got to survive this next slate of games.”

The Warriors’ record is now 52-17. They’ve lost three of their past four games and have 13 remaining as they push toward the playoffs trying to get healthy.