Utah Jazz (11-2) at Golden State Warriors (8-5)
Tipoff: Mon. 11/23/2013, 7:30PM PDT
Location: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA
TV: CSNBA | Radio: KNBR 680 AM
Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors (@goldenstatenz & @poormanscommish)
The Warriors are set to host the Portland Trail Blazers tonight after a dismal loss on the road to the battered Los Angeles Lakers. The Warriors entered the game without 4 of their rotation players as Stephen Curry (mild concussion), Toney Douglas (stress reaction in left tibia), Jermaine O’Neal (bruised knee), and Ognjen Kuzmic (fractured right pinky) not even accounting for Festus Ezeli who’s timetable is still uncertain.A game that could have been used for the Warriors to notch an easy victory on the road turned into an ugly contest for the team most expect to contend in the West.
The deeper the Warriors are forced to dig into their bench, the uglier things look. After playing 47 grueling minutes in an overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Andre Iguodala went down early in the 3rd Quarter last night with a strained hamstring and will be out indefinitely.
Andre Iguodala's MRI exam showed a strained left hamstring. He's out indefinitely, according to the team.
— Rusty Simmons (@Rusty_SFChron) November 24, 2013
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Adding Iguodala to an injury list that already includes Festus Ezeli, O’Neal, Douglas, Kuzmic, and possibly Curry (still not word on if hes a go or not for tonight.) The Warriors went from a booming 8-3 start to an 8-5 team faced with injuries and depth concerns. Nothing to be extremely worried about, but it does pose questions for the immediate future.
Enter the Blazers, entering tonight’s game Portland is on a 9-game winning streak (4 at home and 5 on the road.) A healthy Warriors squad would pose a serious threat to the legitimacy of the upstart Blazers and would be the best team Portland has faced since it’s last loss on November 5th against the Houston Rockets. Unfortunately the Warriors will field an undermanned roster that would be deplete of it’s potential even if Curry is cleared to play. Assuming Curry would be on some sort of minute restriction while being eased back in after missing the prior two games due to a mild concussion.
Tonight will be a homecoming of sorts for Portland’s second year PG, Damian Lillard. An Oakland native who played for Oakland High School before attending Weber State and winning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award last season has taken the next step in his development and is looking to carry his team to the Blazers to it’s first Playoff berth since 2011. Lillard put on a show in front of his hometown his first chance dropping 37 against the Warriors on January 11th. He’ll be looking to have a bounceback from the brutal 16-point on 4-11 showing his second go-round at Oracle on March 30th.
The Blazers 2-time All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, who was reportedly sought after by the Warriors this Summer is still considered the star of this team. Aldridge is posting near career-best’s in points (21.7) and rebounds (8.8), his career high’s are 21.8 and 9.1. The Blazers were 0-3 against the Warriors last year. but Aldridge only played in two of those contests; posting 7 points and 6 rebounds in a 1125-98 loss early in the season and a much more impressive 30 and 21 in a 99-88 loss which happened to come in the last game of the regular season at Oracle.
The Blazers we will see tonight are much different than the team you may remember from last season. Last year’s team fielded a strong starting 4.5 players (counting for J.J. Hickson‘s defensive inefficiencies), but their bench was one of the worst in the league. The Blazers as we now them now have replaced Hickson in their starting lineup for Robin Lopez, who’s not the greateast rim-protector, but a huge upgrade over Hickson. The bench is where we see the major upgrade with key players such as Mo Williams, Thomas Robinson, Joel Freeland, and even a familiar face in former Warriors forward, Dorrell Wright.
After watching the Lakers shoot 45.8% while making 11 3-pointers last night the Warriors will face the only other team besides themselves (10.5) and the Lakers (10.2) that make over 10 3-pointers per game as the Blazers average 10.1. Without Andre Iguodala defending the perimeter the Blazers and especially starting SG Wesley Matthews could have a field day bombarding the Warriors with the shot they are known for.
Matthews has been on a tear this season shooting 50% from deep while making 2.8 per game and will provide an interesting matchup for his Warriors counterpart, Klay Thompson.
With no official word yet on Curry and expectations not looking promising for him to play the Warriors could be looking at their second home loss of the season tonight. Some talk for or against moral victories, I for one, believe in them. As with the last second loss to the Spurs and the OT loss to the Memphis Grizzlies; if the Warriors can put up a fight and keep this close, you could call it a moral victory if they are battling without 6 of their rotation players. If the Warriors get hammered like they did last night against the Lakers, well at least the Blazers are much better than the Lakers.
The positive things to look forward to heading into tonight is 1) Iguodala will not require any surgery and 2) let’s see how the rest of the team; Klay Thompson, David Lee, Andrew Bogut, and the entire bench step up and respond. Harrison Barnes was the lone bright spot in last night’s game (20 points on 13 shots, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal) lets see if he could possibly carry that over and show the initiative to push this team like he tried to do last night.
Things to watch for:
Who will be the Warriors primary ball-handler?: When Toney Douglas went down, Iguodala became the go-to backup ball-handler. When Curry has been out, Iguodala has been the team’s starting PG. If the Warriors happen to be without Curry, Iguodala, and Douglas do they allow Kent Bazemore and Nemanja Nedovic (both of whom have struggled) to carry the load or does Mark Jackson put more pressure onto Bogut, Thompson, and Barnes to attempt to carry the load? It will be interesting to see how the reserves step up tonight.
The Power Forward matchup: Normally, David Lee vs. LaMarcus Aldridge would be a fun mathcup especially when both teams have high expectations. Under these circumstances it isn’t really much of an individual matchup as more load will be put on Lee (and the rest of the Warriors active players.)
Kent Bazemore and Draymond Green: The Warriors Summer League standouts that carried them to the inaugural Las Vegas Summer League Championship will have pressure put on them from fans, media, and maybe even internal for the first time in a real game setting. Green has been decent this year shooting 49% from the field and 41.7% from 3, but he will most likely see a large spike in his usual 17 minutes per game. Kent Bazemore on the other hand has been extremely underwhelming while attempting to show he has what it takes to run an NBA offense. A primary ball handler may not be his specialty, but if doesn’t stand as a threat to shoot the ball it might be his only chance to see the floor and for once the Warriors may need him.
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