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Warriors Notes: J. Green, Looney, D. Green, Iguodala

May 6th 2023 at 7:30pm CST by Arthur Hill

JaMychal Green‘s role has been limited for most of the season, but he was ready to step into the Warriors‘ starting lineup Thursday when Kevon Looney was suffering from an illness, writes C.J. Holmes of The San Francisco Chronicle. Coach Steve Kerr learned about the seriousness of Looney’s condition roughly two hours before game time. He turned to Green to provide size and outside shooting, and the veteran big man responded by scoring 15 points in 13 minutes and hitting 3-of-6 shots from beyond the arc.

“They always tell me to stay ready and that my time will come,” Green said. “The first series, even though I was kind of struggling a little, we had a team meeting and (Stephen Curry), he said some powerful words and it kind of got me locked in. I let go of everything and made it all about the team.”

Green hasn’t seen the playing time he expected when he signed a one-year, $2.63MM contract with Golden State last summer. Health scares contributed to his frustrating season, as he missed five games after entering health and safety protocols in December, then sat out nine more with an infection in his lower right leg. He’ll be back on the open market in July, but first he wants to contribute to another Warriors’ title run.

“He’s been doing this his whole career, he’s been spacing the floor,” teammate Donte DiVincenzo said. “He’s been hitting bodies, getting rebounds, dunking on people. When he gets in the game, he already knows what to do.”

There’s more on the Warriors:

  • Looney has recovered from his illness and will be ready for a larger role in tonight’s Game 3, tweets Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. “It was pretty bad,” Looney told reporters, adding that he likely wouldn’t have played at all Thursday if it had been a regular season game. Looney, who hasn’t missed a game during the past two seasons, wound up logging nearly 12 minutes with six points and eight rebounds.
  • Assistant coach Chris DeMarco sparked a better performance from Draymond Green in Game 2 by showing him film of his defensive mistakes in the series opener, per Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. “At times you get in these locker rooms and you have stars and coaches won’t always challenge,” Green said. “Chris DeMarco will challenge anybody, from Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, myself, Steve (Kerr). He’ll challenge anyone. He’s not afraid to hear his voice and he’s not afraid to have tough conversations. He’s not afraid of confrontation.”
  • Andre Iguodala will be able to return to practice next week, the Warriors announced (via Twitter). Iguodala hasn’t played since fracturing his left wrist in mid-March.
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