SHOOTAROUND: Harrison Barnes On His Recent Injury: “The Bone Bruise Was The Biggest Hang Up”, Defense Affected

WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — Golden State Warriors starting forward Harrison Barnes, who has missed the last 16 games due to a high left ankle sprained, told reporters today at morning shootaround that a bone bruise caused most of the delay in coming back.

Barnes was injured on November 27, 2015, at the Phoenix Suns in the third quarter.

“The bone bruise was the biggest hang up. I had limited range of motion, ability to explode, all that type of stuff,” said Barnes. “So that was kind of the unexpected part of why it took so long.”

Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton said in various pre- and post-game press conferences during Barnes’ hiatus that the fourth-year veteran was progressing “more and more”, but was never able to give a timetable nor state specifically what was causing the delay, which caused some expected frustration in #DubNation when fans tried to put two and two together.

“I had no idea. I thought a couple weeks and it’ll be fine,” Barnes said of the extended healing time needed. “At the three-and-a-half-week mark, it was still sensitive on the inside. That was when the bone bruise came back and it’s just been building since then.”

Turns out, while Barnes has looked, for the most part, normal during shootarounds after practice and before games…

https://platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js

…it was the pounding on the body that occurs during defense that was of the most concern.

“Just planting and sliding, that was the biggest thing that I had pain with. So knowing that I could get up and down the court, shoot jump shots, hit a pull-up jumper, that was cool, but the other side — not being able to chase off the screen or stop my feet — that was the biggest hurdle,” said Barnes. “I’ve gotten a lot better at that. I feel I can do that comfortably now, but I’m still getting used to getting up.”

Barnes said he will play tonight against the Charlotte Hornets at Oracle Arena and that there will be no minutes restriction on him.

More info:

• Warriors’ Barnes expects to return from 16-game hiatus

• Curry questionable Monday night against Charlotte; Barnes expected back

• Curry questionable, Barnes to return Monday for Warriors

Follow @poormanscommish

(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @teradaphoto)