Memphis is a team that Golden State should be able to handle—if their recent injury problems don’t come back to bite them. Golden State is still struggling to prove they aren’t an injury-prone team—earlier this season, Harrison Barnes suffered a left foot inflammation that kept him on the bench for the first four games of the year. As soon as he came back, Stephen Curry got tangled up with Ricky Rubio and suffered a bone bruise in his left ankle that kept him on the bench for a few days.
On both Saturday (GSW 102, Utah 88) and Monday (GSW 98, Utah 87) the Warriors faced the Utah Jazz. They played without backup point guard Toney Douglas, who is out for at least two weeks with a stress reaction in his left leg. On Saturday, Jermaine O’Neal left the game early—an MRI exam revealed that the center has a bruised right knee and strained right groin. His status is currently day-to-day.
During Monday’s rematch, Curry left with a head injury after Marvin Williams (6’9”, 237-pounds) fell directly on top of him. After the game, Curry reassured the press that he was fine and that he just has a “pretty nasty headache”. Although Curry had initially believed that his head injury was “just a headache”, further tests revealed that the headache was a concussion symptom. Curry will not be allowed to play until he passes the NBA concussion protocol, and he’ll miss Wednesday’s game against Memphis.
On Wednesday night, the Warriors will be out for revenge—they lost 90-108 in Memphis earlier in the year. During their last matchup, Curry (bruised left ankle) had missed the previous game, and clearly wasn’t at his best.
With Curry out for Wednesday’s game, the Warriors will have to ensure that they are playing their best. Unfortunately, backup point guard Toney Douglas is also out for Wednesday’s game. Although they haven’t released an official statement, the Warriors starting lineup will likely look like this:
Andre Iguodala (PG)
Klay Thompson (SG)
Harrison Barnes (SF)
David Lee (PF)
Andrew Bogut (C)
Kent Bazemore will be the alternative at backup point guard, but seeing what he did with extended minutes during the past few games, he still has a lot to learn. Still, the lack of a viable alternative will mean the fan favorite will play a large part in Wednesday’s game.
The Warriors must be on top of their game on Wednesday to outplay the Grizzlies. They have the ability to match up well with Memphis, but the Grizzlies have an advantage when it comes to size—with O’Neal likely out due to his bruised knee, the Warriors are missing one of their bigger players and Andrew Bogut’s main backup.
The Warriors aren’t going to grow in time for Wednesday, but they will be able to use their speed and agility to their advantage. The Warriors must ensure that their shooting is up to their usual standard—last time the Warriors faced the Grizzlies, Golden State shot just 42.3%. If the Warriors are able to shoot well and keep the Grizzlies from exploiting their size advantage, it should be a close game throughout.
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