Spurs' injury woes mounting vs Thunder with De'Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper questionable
A lot is up in the air for the Spurs following their 122-113 road loss against the Thunder in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals Wednesday night. All-Star guard De'Aaron Fox missed his second straight game with a right high ankle sprain. Dylan Harper , Fox’s replacement in the starting lineup, went down with a leg injury in the third quarter and didn’t return.
With both players’ availability uncertain, a series that began promising for the Spurs after winning Game 1 now includes compounding problems. “It feels like that’s always (the case) at this time of the season in every sport, right? ” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said.
“You have to get to the end to give yourself a chance, and I think that’s why we have to continue to trust our depth and guys have to step up, and when their name’s called, answer the bell and be able to give us some quality minutes. “And then as you do get tired and the physicality heightens and the intensity is ever so present, you gotta execute. And so there’s something there where there’s a mental, a physical, an emotional challenge.
” REPORT CARD: Alex Caruso again does it all as Thunder evens Western Conference finals with Spurs Johnson said he hasn’t received an update on Harper, who had 12 points and hit 5 of 10 shots as he logged 25 minutes Wednesday. As for Fox, who was injured in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against Minnesota, he’s still questionable. He played in Games 4, 5 and 6 against the Timberwolves before missing the Spurs’ last two matchups against OKC.
“He’s just trying to play every day,” Johnson said. “It’s a tough injury that he wouldn’t be playing with in the regular season, so he’s trying to tough it out. And he did that in Minnesota and then had an awkward landing and so he re-aggravated it, and we just got to make sure that he’s in a place that he can be out there and compete to the level that he would need to in the game that we’re playing.