Harrison Barnes Injury: Updates on Warriors Forward's Head
The ascent of Harrison Barnes has been one of the most surprising stories for the Golden State Warriors during their Western Conference Semifinals matchup versus the San Antonio Spurs.
Now they might have to see whether they can keep their postseason dreams alive without him.
UPDATE: Friday, May 17, at 12:57 a.m. ET by Ian Hanford
According to San Francisco Chronicle reporter Rusty Simmons, Barnes will not return after leaving the court again due to headaches:
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UPDATE: Friday, May 17 at 12:06 a.m. ET by Tyler Conway
In a shocking turn of events, Barnes returned to the floor to a massive standing ovation by the Oracle Arena Crowd, per Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard:
The Warriors' Twitter feed notes that Barnes had to get six stitches above his eye to stop the bleeding:
NBA protocol calls for specialists to check out Barnes and test him for a concussion before re-entering the game, so it looks like the young forward has avoided the worst-possible outcome.
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As first reported by Yahoo! Sports' Marc J. Spears, Barnes had to leave the game with an apparent head injury after taking a scary fall onto the Oracle Arena floor during Thursday night's Game 6:
Henry Wofford of Comcast SportsNet noted that Barnes was "extremely dizzy" when being helped to the locker room:
Barnes was injured toward the end of the second quarter while switching to help cover Boris Diaw cutting to the basket. Colliding with Diaw, who faked Barnes high into the air, and teammate Andrew Bogut, Barnes went flailing out of control and crashed hard onto the Oracle Arena floor.
The rookie forward took most of the impact on his head and shoulder area, and he lied motionless on the floor for multiple minutes as trainers attended to him. After he was taken off the floor, pressure was put over his left eye to help stop an apparent bleed suffered during the fall.
Barnes was replaced in the game by Jarrett Jack.
While there’s no word on Barnes’ prognosis for the remainder of the game, it’s safe to say the Warriors’ backs will be firmly planted against the wall without him. They are down 3-2 in the best-of-seven series with the Spurs, needing a win Thursday night to force a Game 7 back in San Antonio.
Despite most of the mainstream attention being heaped upon Stephen Curry, it’s been Barnes who has taken over the Golden State offense as this series progressed. With Barnes often matched up against the undersized Tony Parker, the Warriors have been running the offense through Barnes—especially over the last two games.
He averaged 25.5 points and 8.5 rebounds over Games 4 and 5 against the Spurs, ostensibly usurping Curry as the top option. Before leaving Thursday night’s game, Barnes had scored eight points on 4-of-7 shooting.
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