Getty Golden State Warriors teammates Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant & DeMarcus Cousins
The Golden State Warriors will once again be a player down on Tuesday when they welcome the Boston Celtics and Kyrie Irving to town. In a game which many pegged as the likely NBA Finals matchup prior to the year, the Celtics will look to right the ship while the Warriors are just trying to keep rolling along.
Boston has fallen to 38-26 after losing five of six games since the All-Star break and seem to be getting closer to locked in as the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference. While the Brooklyn Nets and Detroit Pistons are both six games back and would have a tough time catching up, the Philadelphia 76ers hold a three-game edge for the No. 4 spot.
On the other side, the Warriors enter Monday with a two-game lead on the Denver Nuggets for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. They’ll be without Klay Thompson in this game, though, as the guard will miss his second consecutive game due to a knee injury.
We’re going to take a look at Golden State’s roster and starting lineup with Thompson sidelined, as it’ll lead to a few other names being asked to step up.
Warriors Roster & Starting Lineup vs. Celtics
*Notates expected starter
C: DeMarcus Cousins*, Jordan Bell
PF: Draymond Green*, Jonas Jerebko, Marcus Derrickson
SF: Kevin Durant*, Damion Lee
SG: Alfonzo McKinnie*, Andre Iguodala, Jacob Evans
PG: Stephen Curry, Shaun Livingston, Quinn Cook
Kevon Looney will also be out for this game, as ESPN’s Nick Friedell revealed he’s dealing with pelvic soreness. This means DeMarcus Cousins will log fairly big minutes, but Jordan Bell could be in the mix for decent minutes as well. The Warriors could also opt to use Draymond Green at the five for stretches in this game. Looney was sidelined last game against the Sixers, a game which Golden State won 120-117.
Although Alfonzo McKinnie is starting in place of Thompson, he also drew the nod last game but played just seven minutes. The players who saw the most minutes for the second unit in that game included Damion Lee (26), Andre Iguodala (25), Bell (16), and Shaun Livingston (16). It’s likely that both Iguodala and Lee could wind up seeing roughly 25 or so minutes once again on Tuesday against the Celtics.
When that game wrapped up, it was actually Lee who walked away as the most impressive player from a scoring perspective off the Warriors bench. He totaled 12 points while knocking down 4-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc. For good measure, the 26-year-old tacked on two rebounds and two steals.
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