MIAMI — The Nets won a game Sunday night, but may have lost something bigger.
Kevin Durant, smack in the middle of a season that was putting him in MVP contention, limped off the court in the third quarter of the Nets 102-101 win over the Miami Heat and did not return.
Durant appeared to have injured his knee with a little more than 1:05 left in the third quarter. Jimmy Butler went to the hole and had his shot blocked by Ben Simmons. He fell to the court and then rolled into the side of Durant’s knee, knocking Durant to the court.
Durant sat on the court for a good minute but then got up and tried to rejoin his teammates. After about 30 seconds, he was pulled from the game and sent to the locker room. Minutes later, the team announced that he would not return.
His teammates managed to squeeze out a victory without him, winning for the 18th time in their last 20 games.
Royce O’Neale made the winning basket with three seconds left when he put back Kyrie Irving’s missed three-pointer.
Irving finished the game with 29 points. Durant had 17. Butler led Miami with 26 and Tyler Herro added 24.
Durant entered the game averaging 30 points per game and had not missed a game because of all injury all season.
He had been the major factor in the Nets winning 17 of their last 19 games heading into Sunday’s game against the Heat. During that stretch he was averaging 30.9 points a game with three games of at least 43.
The Nets (27-13) have not done well without him in the past. When he was out with an injury to his left knee last season, the team went 5-17.
