The Golden State Warriors have just a few casualties to deal as they head into a Sunday night interconference clash with the New York Knicks (8 p.m. ET, NBC).
The injury report for Sunday’s primetime posting lists eight Warriors as out, the ailing no doubt headlined by the continued absence of Stephen Curry. The newly-minted 38-year-old has not played since late January thanks to a knee injury and that streak will continue on Sunday in Manhattan.
Knicks fans, however, will likely bemoan the lack of Draymond Green, who is listed as out due to low back injury management. Blue-and-orange supporters are thus denied their chance at first strikes in the ongoing verbal war of attrition between their team and the tenured agitator.
Green, who also sat out of Golden State’s Friday loss to Minnesota, has often been critical of the modern Knicks but things hit a boiling point just over a year ago: the lifetime Warrior baselessly accused Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns of sitting out of Golden State’s annual visit to avoid an awkward reunion with fellow former Minnesota Timberwolf Jimmy Butler.
Towns had been listed as out due to personal reasons and actually missed the game for bereavement purposes, as his then-girlfriend, now-fiancé Jordyn Woods had lost a close friend to a cancer battle. Green offered his condolences to Towns short after but never formally apologized for the accusation.
Green was at the center of further metropolitan controversy when the Knicks made their annual visit down by the Bay Area back in January. Green was charged with a flagrant foul for tripping Towns during fourth quarter action and later shared a publicized hug with Knicks head coach Mike Brown during the Warriors’ 126-113 win. While Brown (a former Golden State assistant) and Green have undeniable history from the Warriors’ most recent championship runs, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that the gesture “didn’t land well” with members of the Knicks organization.
All in all, the lack of Green gives the Knicks (43-25) one less thing to worry about as they seek to avoid a trap game. In addition to Butler, Curry, and Green, Golden State (32-34) also has Seth Curry, Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton, Moses Moody, and ex-Knicks franchise face Kristaps Porzingis listed as out while Quinten Post is questionable.
That means seven of their top eight scorers will be sidelined, the lone exception being Brandin Podziemski. The Warriors have dropped six of their last seven games, essentially sealing them in Western Conference Play-In purgatory: they’re eight games behind sixth-place Denver/Minnesota for the last automatic spots but nine games in front of 11th-place Memphis.
Ironically enough, the Knicks are set to welcome back Towns to the lineup after the All-Star center missed Friday’s win in Indiana with knee soreness. Towns is off the injury report entirely while Josh Hart, who also sat out Friday due to the same ailment, was upgraded to probable.
