OAKLAND, Calif. — Denver Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried was taken off the court on a stretcher with a neck brace to stabilize him Saturday night immediately after his team’s loss to the Warriors.
The Nuggets said Faried was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons while the team flew home to prepare for a game Sunday against Portland.
"You don’t want to see that with anybody, with any player in this league," Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari said. "We’ll see what the problem is and we’ve got a game tomorrow. So if he’s not playing, somebody else has to step up for him."
Faried raised his right arm for a thumbs-up to fans who stuck around after Golden State’s 111-108 overtime victory. He left the court approximately 10 minutes after the game ended and after being attended to by medical personnel while on the ground at the end of Denver’s bench. A team spokesman said that Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly accompanied Faried to the hospital.
Faried took an elbow to the back of the neck while jostling for a rebound late in overtime. He immediately reached to rub his neck but did not appear seriously injured.
"Obviously any time you’re dealing with a neck or back, it’s scary," Nuggets guard Jameer Nelson said. "I didn’t see the play. We were playing. There are no dirty guys out there. Nobody did anything intentional. Hopefully he’s good."
Faried — Denver’s leading rebounder — scored 15 points and had 12 rebounds in nearly 29 minutes for the Nuggets, who lost their fifth straight game. The team’s first-round pick in 2011, Faried previously missed three games this season with a sprained left ankle.
