SAN FRANCISCO — The two most consequential moments of the Golden State Warriors’ 121-113 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night came late in the second quarter. One boosted the Warriors to a win, the other has a chance to negatively impact their ability to string together a streak.
With 2:27 left in the first half, one possession after Jonathan Kuminga hit his third 3 in 15 minutes to bump him up to 13 points, he came flying in from the weak side in an attempt to block Jake LaRavia’s floater and landed on a tumbling LaRavia’s foot, twisting his right ankle.
Kuminga knew it was bad immediately, rolling over twice toward the baseline in pain, standing up and limping directly to the locker room. Rick Celebrini, the team’s medical decision-maker, followed. Kuminga never emerged, remaining in the locker room to ice his sprained right ankle during the second half.
“It’s not going to be a day-to-day thing,” Steve Kerr said. “It was a significant sprain.”
An hour after the game, Draymond Green was conducting his postgame media session near his locker when Kuminga passed by him about 10 feet away on crutches with a walking boot on his right foot, a sign that Kuminga’s absence is likely to be measured in weeks.
“It f—ing sucks,” Green said. “It sucks.”
Kuminga has been the team’s second-best scorer behind Steph Curry lately and appeared to be settling into a 30-minute per night high-usage bench role. He’d improved his shot diet and efficiency the last 10 days, defended with more force, limiting the midrange jumpers and passing with some extra precision and patience.
“JK has been playing the best basketball of his career,” Kerr said. “We’re going to miss him. But Kyle (Anderson) will fill in well.”
Anderson went from out of the rotation to an important second-half role for the Warriors as the backup power forward. He defended Jaren Jackson Jr. well down the stretch. This is when the Warriors’ extra depth — which has often felt overcrowded during their recent struggles — should benefit them.
But back to the late second quarter and the second biggest development of the night. This was another charged-up, chirpy matchup between the Warriors and Grizzlies. With about 90 seconds left, Desmond Bane was upset with Green. Bane received a technical foul. On the possession after, he barreled through Andrew Wiggins’ chest for an and-1 floater.
“That made Wiggs mad,” Kerr said.
“Bane was mad at me,” Green said. “He bumped Wiggs and woke up a sleeping giant. When he got up slow, turned around and had this smirk, I thought, ‘Huh, this should be interesting.’”
ANDREW WIGGINS WITH AUTHORITY
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Wiggins was quiet in the first half, scoring 2 points on 1 of 6 shooting. He came out of the locker room steaming and admitted postgame that Bane’s bump jolted him to life. Wiggins had 18 third-quarter points, making six of his seven shots and his three 3s. He finished with a team-high 24 points.
“Sometimes you got to let a sleeping dog lie,” Green said. “If you gonna bump someone because you mad at me, you should probably just come bump me.”
Curry missed Saturday’s game to rest his knee tendinitis on the front side of a back-to-back. He’s expected to return Sunday night against the Sacramento Kings, who will likely be without the ailing De’Aaron Fox.
Curry has missed seven games this season. The Warriors have overall been poor whenever he’s off the floor this season, but they’ve put together a 5-2 record in his seven missed games, beating the Pelicans and Rockets twice each along with this Grizzlies win.
They have a chance to get on a run with the softer upcoming schedule. If they can beat the Kings (Fox is doubtful) and the struggling Heat (lost to the Jazz by 36 on Saturday night), they’d close this homestand 5-1, sending them catapulting into a trip that begins with the Pistons, Pacers and Raptors, three beatable East opponents. But they’ll need to do so without the emerging Kuminga.
“We definitely need that Wiggs (that showed up against the Grizzlies),” Green said. “Because he becomes one of the few guys who can get to the hole with that type of athleticism with JK out.”
(Photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
