SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Golden State Warriors guard Moses Moody will miss the rest of the season after a gruesome left knee injury that will require surgery later this week.
The Warriors said Tuesday that Moody tore his patellar tendon and underwent an MRI exam that revealed the severity of his injury. He went down with 58.5 seconds left in overtime of Golden State’s 137-131 victory Monday night while going for an uncontested dunk off a steal against Cooper Flagg.
His knee buckled and Moody went down in agony for several minutes before being carted off the court on a stretcher and giving a wave to the supportive road crowd. The injury left teammates, coaches, the Mavericks and their fans in shock.
The 23-year-old Moody was averaging career-bests of 12.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 steals in 25.7 minutes for the Warriors this season.
Moody had just returned for the first time after missing 10 games with a sprained right wrist. He led the Warriors with 23 points and had three steals — all three against Flagg and all of those in the fourth quarter or overtime. The first two came during an 11-0 Golden State run that broke a tie at the start of the fourth.
“Mo is such a great human being, great teammate, wonderful guy to coach,” coach Steve Kerr said afterward. “Puts in the work every day. And was brilliant, by the way. Played so well defensively, changed the game for us with his ball pressure and knocked down big shots. So great to finally have him back. And then for that to happen, you’re just praying that it’s not too serious, but it sure looked serious.”
The noise didn’t return to the hushed arena over the final 58 seconds, the Warriors scoring the only point in that stretch.
“I saw the looks on the Mavericks’ faces,” Kerr said. “Everybody on the floor was just horrified. Players care about players. They know how fragile this business is and how short their careers are and how injuries can happen and can be catastrophic. We don’t know what it is yet. We’re just hoping for the best.”
The Warriors are headed to the play-in tournament in the Western Conference, and waiting for word on star guard Stephen Curry’s return from a right knee injury after losing Jimmy Butler to a season-ending knee injury that led to ACL surgery.
___
AP Sports Writer Schuyler Dixon in Dallas contributed to this story.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA
Read the full article here