Washington Wizards: Durant suffers knee injury as Wizards upset Warriors

The Washington Wizards sneaked past the Golden State Warriors Tuesday night at Verizon Center as Warriors’ Kevin Durant exited early in the first quarter with a knee injury and did not return.

Before Tuesday’s Washington Wizards Golden State Warriors game, a story from the Washington Post surfaced which involved some telling quotes from Washington, D.C. native, and NBA superstar Kevin Durant.

In an interview with Washington Post’s Tim Bontemps and Adam Kilgore, Durant revealed why he didn’t consider the Wizards last offseason by saying, “I don’t want to open up anything in the past, but I really just didn’t want to play at home.”

Durant continued by saying, “It was nothing about the fans. Being at home, I was so happy with that part of my life — playing at home, being in front of friends, hanging with friends and family every day. That was a part of my life that has come and gone.”

Meanwhile, Durant made his lone appearance of the season to his beloved hometown as a sold out crowd packed the Verizon Center.

However, just 93 seconds into the Warriors Wizards contest, Durant grimaced in pain while grabbing his left knee after Warriors’ Zaza Pachulia apparently was pushed into Durant by Wizards’ center Marcin Gortat.

Soon after Durant headed to the Warriors’ locker room, CSN’s Chris Miller reported that Durant was en route to receive an MRI and would not return to the game.

Now back to the game which still featured NBA superstars John Wall, Bradley Beal, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson to keep the sellout crowd satisfied after many came to see the renowned Durant in his hometown.

The Wizards dominated the first quarter of play, jumping out to a 19-point lead with 2:20 remaining in the opening quarter. With the aid of Bradley Beal’s 16 points after the opening quarter, the Wizards entered the second quarter up 40-26 against one of Western Conference elites.

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After the Wizards lead the entire first half, the Warriors, behind Curry’s 15 third quarter points, outscored the Wizards 36-to-24 and completed the comeback by taking the 80-79 lead with a little over two minutes left in the third.

Heading into the final quarter, the Warriors and Wizards were tied at 85 as the energy inside Verizon Center evolved into a playoff-like atmosphere.

A seesaw fourth quarter battle evaporated all thoughts of the Wizards stellar first half performance as the game was tied yet again at 108 with just 41.7 seconds remaining. Then after Wall’s missed shot, rising star Otto Porter grabbed his second offensive rebound of the night and drew the foul on the putback attempt. Porter converted on both free throws to take a two-point lead and the Wizards never looked back, securing the 112-108 win.

Wall tied his career-high 19 assists along with 12 points to gather his 38th double-double of the season. Beal finished with 25 points and Marcin Gortat earned his 32nd double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

With the win, the Wizards quickly jump back into third place in the Eastern Conference and just three games back from the Boston Celtics and four games behind the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Wizards return to play Wednesday as they travel for a key Eastern Conference matchup against the Toronto Raptors.

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