LeBron James had a one-word reaction on Twitter to Kyrie Irving rolling his ankle — and we can’t run it here. It was an F-bomb, plus the praying hands emoji.
While other people used different words, LeBron summed up pretty much everyone’s reaction to the Irving injury.
In the second quarter of Game 4, Irving rolled his ankle almost 90 degrees when he came down after a layup and his foot hit the foot of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Irving did not return to the game.
Nets coach Steve Nash said after the game that X-rays were negative but that he didn’t know Irving’s status going forward. There will be an MRI to help the Nets get a better picture.
Irving left the arena on crutches, wearing a boot on his right foot, reports Rachel Nichols of ESPN. That’s not a huge surprise, the standard treatment from NBA teams now for anything but the mildest sprain is to immobilize the ankle and put the player on crutches.
The Nets are still without James Harden, who suffered a strained hamstring in Game 1 of this series. While there has been speculation Brooklyn will push Harden to return faster now, they will want to avoid an Anthony Davis situation (where he tried to play through a groin injury and just made things worse).
In the limited time this season the Nets played with Kevin Durant but without Irving and Harden, Brooklyn still had a +14.4 net rating. That, however, was against regular season competition, not an elite Bucks team that has gained confidence with two straight wins.
Game 5 between the Nets and Bucks takes place Tuesday night in Brooklyn.
Check out more on the Nets
Irving’s early exit, Bucks best performance leads to 2-2 series tie… Kyrie Irving out for remainder of Game 4 with ankle sprain Nets’ Jeff Green cleared to play in Game 4 Sunday
LeBron, NBA world reacts to Irving injury as he leaves arena on crutches originally appeared on NBCSports.com
