Kerr on Cousins, who is close, but is re-entering the lineup at a tricky time pic.twitter.com/om7Gi9naT7
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 29, 2019
The Warriors will play in their fifth-straight NBA Finals starting tomorrow night at 6 p.m. PT in Toronto. While Kevin Durant has been ruled out, there is still no clear indication on where DeMarcus Cousins stands in his recovery process, and whether he’ll be game ready for the first or second games in Toronto.
Head coach Steve Kerr said Durant is effectively a ways away from returning. Durant has yet to practice and has to first begin individual work:
Steve Kerr said Kevin Durant’s next step is individual court work over the next couple days. Has to practice before he can play, Kerr says.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 29, 2019
On Cousins, Kerr said he was impressed by the way he recovered from the quad tear he suffered against the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the playoffs, and said he’s now “pain-free.”
“Yeah DeMarcus has done an amazing job coming back from the injury, which we felt at the time, was season-ending,” Kerr said. “So he’s done an incredible job of rebounding, rehabbing and now here he is. He’s scrimmaged a couple times this week, he’s pain-free, so it’s really a matter of rhythm, timing and conditioning, all those things.”
As for how or if Cousins will be used, Kerr said that he’s still figuring out the best way to approach the situation. Kerr said he would undoubtedly play Cousins if this were the regular season.
“I think I mentioned if this were the regular season, we’d throw him out there and he’d play whatever minutes he could tolerate, and we’d build him up from there,” Kerr said. “But it’s not the regular season, it’s the Finals, so we have to figure out what’s the best way to utilize him, how many minutes he can play, what the game feels like, what the matchups are like. So some of that will be determined by what’s happening in the game and the rest of that is just internal with our staff.”
Steve Kerr said it still hasn’t been officially decided yet if DeMarcus Cousins will be active in Game 1, but sounds like it’s leaning that way.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 29, 2019
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