Warriors Catch Break as Timberwolves Star Ruled Out for Friday's Game

Anthony Edwards has been ruled out with a foot injury for Friday's game betwen the Minnesota Timberwolves (15-9) and Golden State Warriors (13-12).

Meanwhile, Stephen Curry will make his return from a quad injury after missing five straight games.

Draymond Green (personal reasons) and Al Horford (sciatica) have been ruled for the Warriors, while Mike Conley (Achilles) is also out.

Who Will Replace Edwards in the Starting Lineup?

In all four games that Edwards missed earlier this season, Conley replaced him in the starting lineup. Without both Conley and Edwards, it's not obvious who will start.

Among Minnesota guards, Jaylen Clark is fourth in minutes, Rob Dillingham is fifth, Terrence Shannon Jr. is sixth and Bones Hyland is seventh.

Clark is my best guess, but watch out for Hyland, who is coming off his best game of the season with 14 points and four threes against the Suns on Monday.

Overall, the Wolves are 2-2 without Edwards. The three-time All-Star guard is averaging 28.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists this season.

Warriors Get Chance to Show Defense Has Turned a Corner

Ryan Rollins. Quenton Jackson. Caleb Love. Reed Sheppard.

The Warriors gave up big scoring performances to all of these players. Their teams were all short-handed. The Warriors lost all four games.

If that trend continues, you can expect Hyland, Dillingham or Shannon to have an unexpected big game in a Wolves win.

Or perhaps Golden State's defense has turned a corner.

On last week's three-game road trip, the Warriors held every opponent under 100 points. Over the last two weeks, the Dubs have the second-best defensive rating in the NBA, per Cleaning the Glass.

Sure, De'Anthony Melton made his debut during the road trip, so the Warriors have better defensive personnel than they did earlier this season.

But it's less about Melton's return and more about more focus on defense and fewer turnovers on offense.

If the Warriors continue to take care of the ball—in turn keeping Minnesota from getting out in transition—they should have a great chance to extend their winning streak to three.

Santos Could Have Big Role to Combat Wolves Frontcourt

The Warriors don't have great frontcourt depth to begin with, and that's especially true when Green and Horford are out like they are on Friday.

You can expect Quinten Post to continue to play a big role, and Trayce Jackson-Davis should get some minutes off the bench as well.

But the Warriors will need somebody to play some power forward minutes, especially when Jimmy Butler is resting. That's when they should turn to Gui Santos.

The 6'7" forward was a big part of the rotation during Golden State's three-game road trip. He played 59 minutes, giving the Dubs a lift with Green out for the last two games.

The Warriors will have their hands full with Minnesota's frontcourt that includes starting power forward Julius Randle, starting center Rudy Gobert and 2024 Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid.

Santos is the Warriors' best bet off the bench to combat Minnesota's size.