Inside The Warriors

Warriors-Timberwolves Game Statuses Revealed for Steph Curry, Edwards, Green

The Warriors will be severely short-handed Monday
Stephen Curry and Draymond Green
Stephen Curry and Draymond Green | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

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The Golden State Warriors (26-21) will be without Stephen Curry (knee) and Draymond Green (back) for Monday's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves (27-19).

Both were listed as questionable earlier Monday.

The Warriors will also be without De'Anthony Melton (rest for back-to-back), Al Horford (rest for back-to-back), Jonathan Kuminga (bone bruise) and Seth Curry (sciatica). Two-way guard LJ Cryer (hamstring) is questionable.

Meanwhile, Anthony Edwards was a late addition to the injury report. He's out due to foot injury maintenance. Minnesota will also be without Terrence Shannon Jr. (foot), but the rest of the roster is healthy.

Expect Big Minutes for Spencer

Since his great five-game stretch in early December, Pat Spencer has played over 14 minutes just once. Fair or not, he's mostly been out of the rotation since then.

On Monday, he'll make a case for more playing time.

On Jan. 2 when the Warriors were resting most of their key players, Spencer played 31 minutes and had just three points and was a minus-41. That was against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, but still, it was an opportunity he didn't take advantage of.

The first five games of December, Spencer averaged 15.2 points, 5.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds. That's the Spencer the Warriors need against Minnesota.

Timberwolves Need This Game to Break Out of Slump

The Timberwolves have lost five straight games, including a 26-point defeat to the Warriors on Sunday.

This should be a get-right game for them, but note that they've lost to the Bulls and Jazz during this stretch.

The biggest key for both teams is the turnover battle. The Wolves had 25 turnovers on Sunday, helping the Warriors attempt 16 more field goals.

If the Warriors dominate the turnover battle, they should have a chance to steal this one.

Warriors Have No Choice But to Play Small Ball

This is Golden State's depth chart for Monday's game:

PG: Brandin Podziemski, Pat Spencer (two-way), LJ Cryer (two-way; questionable)
SG: Will Richard, Buddy Hield, Gary Payton II
SF: Moses Moody
PF: Gui Santos. Malevy Leons (two-way)
C: Quinten Post, Trayce Jackson-Davis

The Warriors are severely lacking forward depth, and it's really worse than it might initially seem.

Moody is really more of 2-guard than a 3. Jackson-Davis is an undersized center.

Aside from winning the turnover battle, the Warriors need to make a bunch of threes. They lead the NBA in three-point attempts and makes per game, so it's not out of the realm of possibility they get an avalanche of threes from Podz, Richard, Moody, Hield, Santos and Post to give themselves a chance.


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Joey Akeley
JOEY AKELEY

Joey was a writer and editor at Bleacher Report for 13 years. He's a Bay Area sports expert and a huge NBA fan.

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