'Heart-wrenching': NBA player injured in unprovoked attack
The Houston Rockets announced on Monday that guard Sterling Brown was the victim of an assault that resulted in facial lacerations.
The team made the announcement prior to Monday's game against the Miami Heat.
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“Last night, Sterling Brown was the victim of an assault," a team statement reads.
"He had no prior knowledge of or interaction with the assailants. He suffered facial lacerations but will make a full recovery. Sterling is not playing tonight because of his prior knee injury."
The Athletic's Shams Charania reports that Brown was jumped outside of a Miami night club on Sunday and hit over the head with a bottle.
Head coach Stephen Silas spoke with Brown Monday and addressed the incident with reporters shortly after the team announcement.
“Heart-wrenching. Rips your heart out,” Silas said.
“It’s one of your guys, someone on your team that you care about, someone that you’re with every day.
"He's doing better," Silas said, while declining to address details of the incident. "... Thankfully, he's going to be OK."
Stephen Silas asked if the situation involving Sterling Brown affected the team tonight: “Maybe at the beginning, probably at the beginning, but we snapped out of it...Maybe the emotion of the day caught up to us toward the end. I think we looked tired toward the end of the game” pic.twitter.com/U1kTS3KIZF
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) April 20, 2021
Silas confirmed that Brown traveled with the team on its current road trip, which also included a Sunday game against the Orlando Magic.
No other details of the incident have been reported.
Brown, 26, is in the midst of his first season with the Rockets. He's missed four straight games with what Silas announced as a grade 1 knee strain last week.
Houston cited Brown's knee strain as the reason for his scratch against Miami on Monday. It's not clear if Brown's injuries from the incident would have forced him to sit out otherwise.
Durant injury a concern to beaten Nets
Kevin Durant's thigh is the latest injury concern for the Brooklyn Nets, who are among the favourites to win the NBA title this season.
Durant was forced to leave Sunday's game in Miami early in the first quarter with a bruised left thigh.
Brooklyn coach Steve Nash said it will likely be Monday at the earliest before the team knows whether it will keep the two-time NBA Finals MVP out of more games.
"He's sore," Nash said.
"But we don't know how severe.
"We'll see tomorrow how he wakes up and go from there."
The Heat won the game 109-107, on a buzzer-beating jumper by Bam Adebayo.
Durant exited with 7:57 minutes to go in the opening quarter, scoring Brooklyn's first eight points of the game before coming out.
He has missed 33 games this season, 24 of those related to a left hamstring injury, six in accordance with the league's health and safety protocols related to the coronavirus and three more for injury management.
"The timing of everything this season, this year, it's just a tell-tale sign of what life is right now in terms of the uncertainty of a lot going on," Brooklyn guard Kyrie Irving said.
"Anything can happen at any moment. ... We just pray that it's not too serious and he's able to recover."
The Nets are already without James Harden while he works his way back from a hamstring issue.
With AAP
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