Getty Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, the Golden State Warriors need to be on their A-game. They don’t have much room for error if they want to make a real push for the postseason, especially with how close the Western Conference standings are.
Unfortunately, they dropped a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, and with another West matchup ahead of them on Tuesday night, they received a concerning injury report. Both Draymond Green and Jordan Poole are listed as probable, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
“Draymond Green and Jordan Poole both listed as probable tomorrow against the Pelicans. Neck soreness for Green, left wrist soreness for Poole,” Slater tweeted.
As things stand, the Warriors are 39-37 on the season, which places them in seventh place in the West – and in the Play-In Tournament. Their Tuesday night matchup against the Pelicans is a crucial one because of the postseason implications it could have.
New Orleans is 38-37 on the year, so if the Warriors lose, they’ll fall into eighth place. That would mean they would have to play their first Play-In game on the road, and Golden State has struggled mightily on the road all season.
Both Green and Poole are probable, which means they will most likely play. However, the idea that they may not play should be enough to concern Warriors fans. If they’re both dealing with injuries heading into the final stretch of the year, that doesn’t bode well for the Warriors.
Stephen Curry Name-Drops Draymond Green
At the end of Golden State’s Sunday night loss to the Timberwolves, they faltered, turning the ball over when they had a chance to tie the game or take the lead. After the game, Stephen Curry name-dropped Green when discussing their late-game fumble.
“At first, it felt like they were trying to take a foul,” Curry said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “I got two people that kind of swiped at me, and they didn’t call anything, so then I changed sides of the court. And I thought it was a little early to shoot just because [if] you make or miss, you give them another possession. So, I kicked it to Draymond. Obviously, I’m sure we could just hold it at that point, maybe, but everything up until that point was just trying to run the clock off. Run time off the clock and force them to need to make a decision whether they really wanted to foul or not. But we lost it.”
Steve Kerr Discusses Warriors Turnovers
In addition, head coach Steve Kerr also spoke about the team’s late-game turnovers, noting that he also needs to be better.
“I don’t need to rank them (the turnovers). They all hurt,” Kerr said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel.” We got to close the game. We got to execute down the stretch. And I got to help them. I got to do a better job myself in helping them to execute. But disappointing because we fought back and gave ourselves a chance to win. Had the ball with the lead late. I thought couple of possessions in those last two minutes just hurt us, and they hit the big shot.”
