Festus Ezeli – Taking A Seat For 1 Game

Kevin Durant's mother sends message to those who questioned his heart Kevin Durant's mother sends message to those who questioned his heart By Dalton Johnson June 11, 2019 7:17 AM Never has a dark cloud of sad silence hovered so loudly over an epic win

The Warriors pulled off a stunning 106-105 victory over the Raptors in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to keep their season alive Monday night.

That's far from what will be remembered from this night in Toronto, though Kevin Durant, playing in his first game in over a month, went down with what is feared to be a torn Achilles tendon after playing just under 12 minutes For those who wrongly questioned Durant's toughness while the Warriors played without him over the previous month, his mother, Wanda, has a message for you For ALL of you who question my son as a Man, question his Heart, question his Integrity and question his LOVE for the game of basketball, you DON’T know him He has a heart of a true Warrior! This too shall pass God Bless you ALL pictwittercom/y0qcQ5Boga — Wanda Durant (@MamaDurant) June 11, 2019 Wanda Durant didn't pull a DeMarcus Cousins , but she did eloquently let her feelings be known “Kevin Durant loves to play basketball, and the people that questioned whether he wanted to get back to this team were wrong," Warriors general manager Bob Myers tearfully said Monday night when addressing the media Medical experts question how Warriors used Kevin Durant in NBA Finals Game 5 Medical experts question how Warriors used Kevin Durant in NBA Finals Game 5 By Drew Shiller June 11, 2019 11:11 AM Warriors Outsiders Podcast Programming note: Watch the NBA Finals pregame edition of Warriors Outsiders on Thursday at 4 pm, streaming live on the MyTeams app The worst-case scenario appears to have come to fruition for Kevin Durant on Monday night in Toronto Although nothing is official yet, all reports indicate that the reigning two-time NBA Finals MVP sustained a torn right Achilles early in the second quarter in Game 5 of the NBA Finals KD strained his right calf on May 8 and was playing in a game for the first time in nearly five weeks He started, played 9 minutes and 43 seconds in the first quarter and then was on the floor at the beginning of the second quarter And at the 9:51 mark pop Oh no Kevin Durant is hurt and this time it looks like he is grabbing at his right Achilles pic

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com/5gr5pXj6I3 — Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) June 11, 2019 After Golden State's improbable 106-105 win over the Raptors, NBC Sports NBA Insider Tom Haberstroh spoke with a couple medical experts about the way the Warriors deployed KD: “Just seems unacceptable,” said one longtime director of performance “Doesn’t make any sense” Said another rival training staff member: “They may have said, once the leg is warm, ride it But I can’t imagine (Durant) did enough work to determine 12 minutes out of 14 was appropriate” There is a lot of second-guessing going on right now People are taking sides and assigning blame You aren't going to read any of that here because we don't know all of the specifics and aren't privy to the inner workings of the process behind how Durant was cleared What matters is that arguably the best player in the NBA is going to miss all of next season And to quote Warriors superstar Steph Curry: Steph Curry on Kevin Durant: “It just sucks, man

I don’t really know what else to say about it.

So that’s it” pictwittercom/Gp6w6F3cym

Draymond Green Calls Fans Cheering During Kevin Durant's Injury 'Classless' Tuesday, 11 June 2019 ( 1 hour ago ) Warriors players Klay Thompson and Draymond Green had strong responses to Raptors fans cheering when Kevin Durant was injured Kevin Durant Is A Game Time Decision For Game 5 00:41 According to Deadspin, Kevin Durant is expected to return to the court during Game 5 of the NBA Finals He joined the Golden State Warriors at a shoot-around practice, and head coach Steve Kerr said Durant will be listed as a game-time decision Dealing with a calf injury, Durant has missed over a Recent related videos from verified sources Fans outside Scotiabank Arena in Toronto are anticipating a NBA championship celebration, but the Warriors hope Kevin Durant's return from injury will provide the spark to extend the NBA Finals for Credit: CBS 5 SF KPIX Duration: 03:25 Published 4 hours ago Kevin Durant’s month-long absence from the Golden State Warriors while he tries to recover from a calf injury has thrown the NBA Finals totally out of whack Now, with the Warriors down 3-1 to the Credit: Rumble Duration: 00:37 Published Kevin Durant’s month-long absence from the Golden State Warriors while he tries to recover from a calf injury has thrown the NBA Finals totally out of whack Now, with the Warriors down 3-1 to the

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Credit: Wochit Duration: 00:37 Published Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr spoke with reporters a day before Game 4 of the NBA Finals and said Klay Thompson would play, while Kevin Durant would not (6/6/2019) Credit: CBS 5 SF KPIX Duration: 11:13 Published 4 days ago Drake Trolls Klay Thompson After Raptors Win NBA Finals Game 3 Drake continues to make headlines in the 2019 NBA Finals The rapper trolled Klay Thompson on Instagram, who missed Game 3 with an injured Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 01:35 Published 5 days ago Barack Obama Steals NBA Finals Spotlight in Drake's Hometown of Toronto The former president was greeted with a standing ovation and "MVP" chant during Game 2 of the NBA Finals Obama and Drake Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 01:22 Published 1 week ago The Line discusses how Kevin Durant's status affects the exact series odds for the NBA Finals

For more of The Line subscribe to SI TV.

Credit: Sports Illustrated Duration: 01:48 Published 2 weeks ago Kevin Durant on his injury, social media and outside talk that team is better without him Credit: CBS 5 SF KPIX Duration: 11:18 Published 2 weeks ago

TORONTO - Before anyone could speak about the Warriors' calamity, Draymond Green talked He often does Instead of raising his voice in the locker room about the Warriors trailing 3-1 to the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Finals, Green spoke

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Email Copy Link SAN FRANCISCO -- The role of villain in the Dodgers-Giants rivalry is nothing new to Madison Bumgarner (as Yasiel Puig could attest), but on Sunday, Max Muncy entered the fray with a homer that not only made a loser out of one fading ace, but a winner out of a SAN FRANCISCO -- The role of villain in the Dodgers-Giants rivalry is nothing new to Madison Bumgarner (as Yasiel Puig could attest), but on Sunday, Max Muncy entered the fray with a homer that not only made a loser out of one fading ace, but a winner out of a rising one Walker Buehler and the Dodgers beat Bumgarner and the Giants in a classic pitchers’ duel, 1-0, but it was Muncy’s splash blast in the first inning -- and his enjoyment watching the 424-foot launch into McCovey Cove -- that made a Mad Bum out of Bumgarner

He yelled at Muncy to stop watching and start running, to which Muncy responded with a line that will go down in rivalry history.

“I told him if you don’t want to watch me watch the ball,” said Muncy, “you can go in the ocean and get it “I yelled at him, he yelled at me I don’t know if he even heard me Honestly, I thought it was one of my tamer bat flips

” "If you don't want me to watch the ball, you can get it out of the ocean.

" 😂 @maxmuncy9 on his 1st inning HR off Madison Bumgarner.

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com/lBSkGADMQd • Box score Said Bumgarner, who allowed only one other splash homer in his career: "I can’t even say it with a straight face.

The more I think about it, I should just let the kids play That’s what everybody is saying, but I can’t He just struck a pose and walked further than I liked That’s fine If you want to do that, do it, but I’m going to do what I want to do They want to let everybody be themselves Let me be myself That’s me I’d just as sooner fight than walk or whatever Just do your thing I’ll do mine" The verbal exchange between pitcher and hitter (with plate umpire Will Little intervening) continued throughout Muncy’s home run trot, clocked by Statcast at 2744 seconds compared to an MLB average this year of 2285 seconds and even a 25

84-second trot by Bumgarner himself after his April 2 homer off Hyun-Jin Ryu.

The home run itself was reason enough for Bumgarner to lose it, because he and the Giants lost the rubber game of the series because of it.

Buehler (7-1) continued his late bid for All-Star attention with seven shutout innings, striking out nine with one walk before relievers Pedro Báez and Kenley Jansen (19th save) finished it off Buehler is 4-1 with a 215 ERA over his last seven starts, bringing his ERA down from 5

22 to 3.

35 after tweaking mechanics and straightening his delivery.

“When you’re on line and on time, you can a lot more things with the ball,” said Buehler “Earlier in the year my misses were all in the same place and my good throws were all in the same place

When you can command the four quadrants, and watching our guys do that, you learn from that.

” The defensive play that preserved the shutout was turned by Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner With no outs, runners on the corners in the bottom of the sixth and the defense at double-play depth, Turner picked a 986 mph one-hop smash off Pablo Sandoval’s bat and threw home instead of to second base, with Mike Yastrzemski trying to score from third erased in a rundown Manager Dave Roberts credited Turner’s intelligence and acumen, as well as his courage to take the risk Turner said he felt like he owed it to Buehler to try to keep the shutout intact “The way Walker was throwing the ball, I decided if I got a ball hit at me I would probably go home and not concede the run,” said Turner “I didn’t know he’d hit it that hard, but I threw my glove out there and it found it I wanted to give him a chance to keep going with a zero on the board” Buehler, Ryu and Clayton Kershaw are a combined 23-3 The Dodgers haven’t had three starting pitchers make the All-Star team since 1962, when two games were played (Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and Johnny Podres) “It was kind of an old-school baseball game, with two No 1s going head-to-head,” Roberts said “With our ballclub, we have a lot of aces For Walker to understand we had a chance to win a series, to face a No 1 on the other side and to come with that intent today, it was really fun to see” As for Bumgarner’s antics, Roberts suggested an ulterior motive of firing up his troops might have been in play “A great player like him, who’s very emotional, there’s a kind of steering the game and the umpires and our players and his teammates in a certain direction to get the most out of them,” Roberts said “It’s gamesmanship and I respect that” has covered the Dodgers for MLBcom since 2001 Read more:

Brett Gardner couldn’t buy one Saturday afternoon at Progressive Field The New York Yankees outfielder narrowly missed a home run in the first inning only to strike out to lead off the ballgame Gardner put good wood on the baseball in the sixth inning as well, but he was robbed of extra bases via a sensational running catch by Indians outfielder Jordan Luplow, who crashed into the wall to make the grab Gardner understandably was frustrated following Luplow’s web gem Unfortunately for the 35-year-old, injury was added to insult as he released his anger in the dugout It's all fun and games until the helmet bounces back and hits you in the face pictwittercom/gy6Lpgrhlf — FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 8, 2019 Gardner, who finished 0-4 on the day, required a little patchwork in wake of the freak accident #Yankees LF Brett Gardner has 6 stitches in his lower lip due to throwing his helmet in the dugout and having it bang off a wall into his lip He got the stitches after the game with no novocaine, which he says hurt the most — Randy Miller (@RandyJMiller) June 8, 2019 The Yankees ultimately fell to the Indians 8-4, marking their fifth loss in their last six games Thumbnail photo via Mark J

Rebilas/USA .

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• 2019 Draft legacies 1 Orioles: Adley Rutschman, C, Oregon State There simply isn’t enough intel to make a switch just yet Rutschman is having an absolutely dominant junior season and is the top player on nearly every Draft board 2 Royals: Bobby Witt Jr, SS, Colleyville (Texas) Heritage HS The only reason to change this would be if the Orioles took Witt instead, leaving Kansas City its pick of the top college hitters should it choose to go in that direction 3 White Sox: CJ Abrams, SS, Blessed Trinity Catholic HS (Roswell, Ga) Assuming Rutschman and Witt go 1-2, this could end up being an internal debate between the toolsy, high-upside up-the-middle player in Abrams and the advanced college hitter in Vaughn 4

Marlins: Andrew Vaughn, 1B, California As Jim Callis pointed out in his mock last week , these next three could go in any order.

There are Vandy connections here, with Marlins scouting director DJ Svihlik having coached at the school last year, so it could easily be JJ Bleday, while Riley Greene would be the high school bat choice 5 Tigers: Riley Greene, OF, Hagerty HS (Oviedo, Fla) With Vaughn off the table, it’s Greene vs Bleday here The Tigers love Greene’s offensive upside and could let Bleday get to… 6 Padres: JJ Bleday, OF, Vanderbilt … San Diego Bleday’s power is legit If the Padres want to go in another direction, this seems to be the first place Juco right-hander Jackson Rutledge could go 7 Reds: Nick Lodolo, LHP, Texas Christian The Reds might do cartwheels if any of those bats got to them, especially Vaughn But in this scenario, we’re sticking with TCU lefty Lodolo, the top college arm in the class 8 Rangers: Hunter Bishop, OF, Arizona State This could be another landing spot for Rutledge and there is this nagging feeling that the Rangers like high school guys, but Bishop has tools with the chance to hit for power and play center field 9 Braves: Jackson Rutledge, RHP, San Jacinto (Texas) JC (Compensation for failure to sign 2018 first-rounder Carter Stewart) This is really where the projections start heading off in many directions Rutledge’s stuff and upside make him belong in this neck of the woods There are also college bats like UNLV shortstop Bryson Stott and Baylor catcher Shea Langeliers in the mix

10.

Giants: Bryson Stott, SS, Nevada-Las Vegas Stott is having a huge year at UNLV, hitting for average while reaching double digits in home runs and stolen bases, all while walking more often than he’s struck out And he has at least a chance to stick at short 11 Blue Jays: Corbin Carroll, OF, Lakeside HS (Seattle) Carroll, one of the better high school hitters in this class who also has plus speed, has not had his name mentioned up this high previously Toronto might be hoping one of the top 10 above gets to it, but if not, it could be open season and there are those in the scouting department who love Carroll’s bat and athleticism 12 Mets: Zack Thompson, LHP, Kentucky In many ways, Thompson has been the best performing college pitcher in this class, but the lingering medical concerns remain a question mark He could go ahead of this pick if a team’s medical staff signs off on him 13 Twins: Shea Langeliers, C, Baylor The Twins like Carroll, but with him off the board, they could set their sights on Langeliers, a terrific defensive catcher who has shaken off a hamate injury to come on with the bat of late this spring He also homered to open up the Big 12 tournament 14 Phillies: Alek Manoah, RHP, West Virginia The Phillies could be in on any of the top college arms should they get here, including Thompson and Elon’s George Kirby A high school bat like Brett Baty or Gunnar Henderson could also enter the conversation And don’t rule out a prep pitcher like Matthew Allan 15

Angels: Keoni Cavaco, 3B, Eastlake HS (Chula Vista, Calif.

) Cavaco’s stock has been on the rise all spring and whispers of him climbing up to this part of the Draft now seem a lot more solid The fact he’s turned in some 70 (on the 20-to-80 scouting scale) run times and started playing shortstop (and doing it well) has only helped his helium

16.

D-backs: Matthew Allan, RHP, Seminole HS (Sanford, Fla) Allan is the top high school pitcher in the class and realistically could land in the top 10-15 picks There also could be a high price tag, which could scare off some teams

The D-backs, thanks to all of the extra early picks, conceivably have a large enough bonus pool to get something done.

17.

Nationals: Josh Jung, 3B, Texas Tech There’s been a lot of talk about arms here, but there might not be one the Nats like enough to snag at No 17 Jung has been solid and has a track record of hitting and on-base skills Like with Langeliers, his 3-for-3 performance to start his Big 12 tournament doesn’t hurt 18 Pirates: Brett Baty, 3B, Lake Travis HS (Austin, Texas) Yes, Baty is old for his class at 19 1/2 But if he were to go on to Texas and be a Draft-eligible sophomore in two years, no one would be saying anything about his age And he can flat out hit 19 Cardinals: Quinn Priester, RHP, Cary-Grove HS (Cary, Ill) Athletic and projectable, Priester comes in not far behind Allan on the high school arm list The Cardinals have gone with a high schooler with their first pick in each of the last three Drafts 20 Mariners: George Kirby, RHP, Elon Kirby has put up some ridiculous numbers at Elon, with a 207 ERA and an obscene 105/6 K/BB ratio Teams looking for a college arm above could take him and the Mariners, who are likely looking for pitching here, could turn their sights to Seth Johnson at Campbell or high schooler JJ Goss 21 Braves: Logan Davidson, SS, Clemson Let the run on shortstops commence! Davidson might be the best of the bunch with his power-speed potential and his ability to stay at the position 22 Rays: Gunnar Henderson, SS, Morgan Academy (Selma, Ala) The Alabama prepster’s name has been moving up boards all spring, and he could realistically end up going in the teens The Rays certainly don’t shy away from taking high schoolers in the first round 23 Rockies: Will Wilson, SS, North Carolina State The buzz is still all about college bats in this spot and they could have interest in guys like Davidson or North Carolina’s Michael Busch here Wilson can hit for average and power and would profile well, even if he has to move to second base 24 Indians: Michael Busch, 1B/OF, North Carolina Speaking of college bats, that seems like a strong possibility here as well A high school arm like Daniel Espino has been brought up if the Indians decide they don’t like any of the offensive possibilities 25 Dodgers: Daniel Espino, RHP, Georgia Premier Academy (Statesboro, Ga) With two picks in the round, the Dodgers could divvy things up in a couple of different ways A prep arm here, with the best fastball in the high school class, followed by a college bat, could be one iteration 26 D-backs: Brennan Malone, RHP, IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla) (Compensation for failure to sign 2018 first-rounder Matt McLain) Malone is projectable and athletic and started to show a better ability to pitch (and not just throw) this spring There’s a ton of upside here

27.

Cubs: Kody Hoese, 3B, Tulane Hoese continues to put up some of the best numbers of any hitter in Division I, with a 388/484/790 line with 23 homers and 60 RBIs, not to mention more walks than strikeouts And it’s been well-documented how well the Cubs have done with college bat draftees 28 Brewers: Tyler Callihan, 3B, Providence HS (Jacksonville, Fla) The Brewers would love for an arm like Malone to get here, and they could look at another prep arm like Goss But if Malone is off the board, they would have interest in Callihan, one of the better high school hitters in the class 29 Athletics: Seth Johnson, RHP, Campbell Johnson has premium, early-round stuff, but doesn’t have a long resume of pitching That leaves some things unknown about him, but also means he’s a rare college pitcher with a lot of ceiling 30 Yankees: Kameron Misner, OF, Missouri It’s true Misner has struggled, especially in conference play But his tools are hard to ignore, with the chance to show off a power-speed combination once he gets to the pro level 31 Dodgers: Brady McConnell, SS, Florida (Compensation for failure to sign 2018 first-rounder JT Ginn) McConnell’s name has been sneaking into the back end of the first round conversations of late thanks to a very strong season with the bat The athletic shortstop has been a bright spot for an otherwise disappointing season for the Gators

32.

Astros: JJ Goss, RHP, Cypress (Texas) Ranch HS With Espino and Malone off the board, Goss is the next best high school arm, with plenty of projection as he adds strength to his 6-foot-3 frame 33 D-backs: Matthew Lugo, SS, Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy (Florida, P

R.

) (Compensation for loss of free agent Patrick Corbin) Carlos Beltran’s nephew has some excellent offensive ability, with the chance to hit for average and solid power Whether he sticks at shortstop remains to be seen, but his bat could profile at second or even third 34 D-backs: Maurice Hampton, OF, Memphis (Tenn) University HS (Compensation for loss of free agent AJ Pollock) Hampton is the best two-sport star in the class, and could go on to play football and baseball at LSU if the Draft doesn’t work out The D-backs could take advantage of the extra picks to keep him off the gridiron is a reporter for MLBPipelinecom Follow him on Twitter @JonathanMayo and Facebook , and listen to him on the weekly Pipeline Podcast