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http://m.newsok.com/kevin-durant-addresses-his-ankle-injury-and-concerns-it-might-be-more-than-a-mild-sprain/article/5379184
SAN ANTONIO — Kevin Durant missed his fourth straight game Thursday at San Antonio due to a mild ankle sprain he sustained just before halftime at Golden State last week.
Thunder coach Scott Brooks announced before the game that Durant "could not go if he wanted to go."
Brooks labeled Durant as day-to-day. But the mounting number of missed games due to what the team diagnosed as a mild sprain has now become a mild concern -- especially since the injury is to the same foot Durant recently underwent surgery on to repair a fractured bone.
Prior to the Spurs game, Durant addressed his injury and those growing concerns people on the outside might have.
Q: What's going on with the ankle?
A: I can't play basketball. I can't run. I can't cut. I can't jump. I'm not just sitting out just because. If I could play I would play. But I can't play.
On a scale of one to 10, how bad would you say it is?
I don't really know. I just know that I can't really do what I want to do. I can't cut. I can't move. I can't run. So if I would just go out there and force it I would be terrible. I wouldn't be able to help my team out. It hurts.
It's been announced as a mild ankle sprain, but now with you missing your fourth game people are getting a little concerned that maybe it's something more than a mild sprain. Do you feel like it's more than a mild sprain? You've suffered sprains in the past. Ho w is this different than what you've felt in the past?
I mean, it hurts. I don't want to throw anybody under the bus. But it's not worse than what's happened before. It's not like I might have surgery or my foot is messed up. It's just I have a bad ankle sprain and it's the same foot that I had surgery on so it's kind of lingering over the top of the foot a little bit. So it's hurt.
Do you feel like you will be coming back soon?
I don't know. It's day-by-day, man.
You look like you're getting frustrated with it?
Nah. Nah. I mean, it's part of the game. It happens, you know what I'm saying? I couldn't prevent it. I stepped on somebody's foot. I stepped on somebody's foot and my ankle hit the ground. So usually when that happens it's pretty sore and it hurts for a while. So we'll see.
How tough has it been for you to see how these games have gone in your absence?
I mean, we should have won both. It's a fine line between winning and losing. We played well both games. It's a matter of a few minute stretches, I think. That's when it happens. It could have happened when I was on the court, too. I'm not going to say it's only because I wasn't out there. It's just sometimes that's how the game happens. Momentum switches sometimes. But we've been playing well, I think, defensively. Offensively, we've been moving the ball. But it's just a fine line between winning the basketball game.
Is missing a Christmas game tough for you, or is missing any game tough?
Missing any game is tough. Obviously, Christmas is a special day. I would love to play, but at the end of the day, man, I want to make sure everything is healthy. That's my concern. Missing so many games so far this year, I just want to be as healthy as I can. If I've got to compromise a Christmas game, so be it. It's all about just making sure I'm right.
Do you think you would be missing this many if you didn't just have surgery on that foot?
Uh, nah. I don't think I'd miss this many games. But it happens like that. It's not the first time I sprained my ankle this bad. I remember in 2009 I sprained it pretty bad and missed nine games because of it. That's how tough a sprained ankle is sometimes. But I just got to keep getting better, keep getting treatment and training and hopefully I'll be back soon.
How is the pin they put in it?
That was cool. That stayed intact. Nothing happened there. That's what we were afraid of. But everything's cool with the screw. ---
"though time has passed, im still the future" (c) black thought
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