Steve Kerr Sounds Off on Ailing Warriors Star

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Draymond Green #23 of the Golden State Warriors looks on.

THE Warriors of the Golden State are limping toward the finish line of the regular season due to injuries to a few of their players, including a key starter Green Draymond.

“Well he was, 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 bit so he was receiving treatment at half-time. I think he feels a lot better [Tuesday]. I saw him in training.

So we’ll call him questionable, he’s been playing a lot of minutes lately and the guard kept him out of the game in Dallas last week. So we’re just trying to stay ahead of the curve and not allow that to become an issue, but I’ll just lean on Rick. [Celebrini] and training staff and they will realize it.

Green shot poorly in his second game after missing the Warriors’ road loss at Dallas on March 13 due to lingering back soreness. He was 1 of 7 in their 119-112 home loss to the short-handed team. New York Knicks on March 19.

If Green misses Wednesday’s home game against the depleted Memphis Grizzlies, rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis is expected to get the start.

The warriors are 11-point favorites against the Grizzlies at DraftKings, Paris MDit’s no. 2 sports bets.

Draymond Green’s old number has no relation to his new role

Kerr allayed fears that Green’s injury was related to his move to a new role as a small-ball center, hitting bodies with bigger, more physical players on the defensive end.

“I don’t really think it’s related,” Kerr said. “When we put it on four with Trayce [Jackson-Davis] at five, it’s really more to ease the emotional burden of having to carry the defense. It’s pretty nice for Draymond to have a shot blocker behind him.

“He loves playing center field, loves trying to screw things up for the offense and helping all over the map. When he does this in five, it sometimes leaves the edge unprotected and he can get frustrated when that happens. But with Trayce there, it allows Draymond to play a bit of a different role and take some of the rim protection burden off him.

The Warriors are in a precarious situation as they fell to 10th in the West after Monday’s loss to the Knicks, followed by the Houston Rockets.

Golden State (35-32) is just 2.5 games ahead of Houston (33-35), which is on a six-game winning streak, for the final play-in spot.

Moses Moody knee injury

Another player for the Warriors who has a dubious label is Moses Moody, out after the first half with a knee injury against the Knicks.

“I liked Moses’ minutes in the first half, then he went out with a knee injury.” Kerr told reporters after the loss. “And since Moses was not available, we were looking for queues to find out if it was [Andrew Wiggins] Or [Jonathan Kuminga] or Brandin [Podziemski]. You make the best decisions possible and you must be able to protect. We therefore wanted [Wiggins] on [Jalen] Brunson and that’s why Gary [Payton II] played as many minutes as him too because [the Knicks] you lay out and Brunson is really tough.

Brunson distinguished the Warriors’ defense, scoring a game-high 34 points on 12-of-25 shooting from the floor and dishing out seven assists.

Moody’s left knee soreness has been bothering him since their back-to-back games against the San Antonio Spurs last week.

Alder Almo is a basketball reporter who covers the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors for Heavy. He has over 15 years of experience in local and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Alder is originally from the Philippines and is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. Learn more about Alder Almo