The Golden State Warriors are moving slowly towards the end of the regular season because a couple of their players, including an important starter Draymond Green.
“He was a little banged up [Monday] night,” Kerr said on “Willard and Dibs” on 95.7 The Game on Tuesday, March 19. “His back was bothering him a little bit and so he was getting some treatment at halftime. I think he’s feeling a lot better [Tuesday]. I saw him in practice. So we’ll mark him as questionable, he’s played a lot of minutes lately and the back kept him out of the game in Dallas last week. So we’re just trying to stay ahead of it and not allow this to become a problem but I’ll just lean on Rick [Celebrini] and the training staff and they’ll figure it out.”
Green didn't perform well in his second game back after missing the Warriors road loss in Dallas on March 13 because of the persistent back soreness. He was 1 of 7 in their 119-112 home loss to the shorthanded New York Knicks on March 19.
If Green doesn't play in Wednesday’s home game against the depleted Memphis Grizzlies, rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis should get the start.
The Warriors are 11-point favorites against the Grizzlies at DraftKings, MD Betting‘s no. 2 sportsbook.
Draymond Green’s back issue unrelated to his new role
Kerr eased fears that Green’s injury is linked to his shift to a new role as a small-ball center, up against bigger and more physical players on the defensive end.
“I don’t think it’s related, really,” Kerr said. “When we do put him at the four with Trayce [Jackson-Davis] at the five it’s really more to lighten the emotional burden of having to carry the defense. It’s kind of nice for Draymond to have a shot-blocker behind him.
“He loves playing center field, loves trying to muck things up for the offense and helping all over the map. When he’s doing that as a five, occasionally it leaves the rim unprotected and he can get frustrated when that happens. But with Trayce back there, it lets Draymond play a little different role and take some of the rim protection burden off of him.”
The Warriors are in a shaky situation as they dropped to 10th in the West following Monday’s loss to the Knicks with the surging Houston Rockets lurking behind.
Golden State (35-32) is only 2.5 games ahead of Houston (33-35), which is on a six-game win streak, for the final play-in spot.
Moses Moody’s Knee Injury
Another player for the Warriors who has a questionable tag is Moses Moody, who went out after the first half with a knee injury against the Knicks.
“I liked Moses’s minutes in the first half and then he went out with a knee injury,” Kerr told reporters after the loss. “And with Moses unavailable, we were searching for lineups whether it was [Andrew Wiggins] or [Jonathan Kuminga] or Brandin [Podziemski]. You make the best decisions that you can and you have to be able to guard. So we wanted [Wiggins] on [Jalen] Brunson and that’s why Gary [Payton II] played as many minutes as he did as well because [the Knicks] spread you out and Brunson is really tough.”
Brunson dismantled the Warriors’ defense, scoring a game-high 34 points on 12 of 25 shooting from the floor and handing out seven assists.
Moody’s left knee has been hurting him since they played two games in a row against the San Antonio Spurs last week.
