Warriors-Timberwolves Injury Report Reveals Jonathan Kuminga's Game Status

Jonathan Kuminga has been ruled for Saturday's game between the Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves with knee soreness.

Though he also twisted his ankle Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks, the ankle injury is not listed on the injury report.

The Warriors (25-21) are mostly healthy outside of Kuminga and Jimmy Butler, who is out for the season with a torn ACL. Seth Curry will miss his 24th straight game with sciatica, but everyone else is available.

For the Timberwolves (27-18), Terrence Shannon Jr. is out with a foot injury, but everyone else is expected to play.

Warriors Need Support Scoring for Steph

Stephen Curry had 38 points against the Mavericks, including eight threes, but it wasn't enough, as the Warriors fell 123-115.

De'Anthony Melton added 22, but no other Warrior had more than 12 points.

Unless a) Kuminga stays with the team and score at a high rate or b) the Warriors trade Kuminga for a player who scores at a high rate, this will be their reality for the rest of the season.

It puts a lot of pressure on their other core players to score, particularly Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski.

My guess is most nights they won't be up for the task. They are really not meant to be offensive hubs.

But in fairness to Podz, he's had at least 14 points in five of his last eight games. They'll need more of than and then some to beat the Wolves.

Get Ready for Small-Ball Lineups

Even if the Warriors were fully healthy, they'd be playing lineups much smaller than Minnesota's. Now, with Kuminga and Butler out, they will be extra small.

Of course, if you're gonna play small, you have to force turnovers, get out in transition and make threes.

The Warriors are actually capable of doing two of those things. They force the sixth-most turnovers per game and they take and make the most threes per game. But they are just 29th in fast-break points per game, which is a killer against a Timberwolves team that can stifle anyone in the half court with its size.

The Warriors also turn the ball over at the ninth-highest rate in the league, which is a recipe for a loss for any team that plays small lineups.

The bottom line is there's almost no margin for error when you play small ball. The Warriors make too many errors to consistently win with it.