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Warriors’ Andre Iguodala Out At Least One More Week

May 5th, 2022 at 1:25pm CST by Rory Maher

Warriors veteran Andre Iguodala will miss at least one more week due to his cervical disc (neck) injury, the team announced (via Twitter).

Iguodala, who hasn’t played since Game 4 of Golden State’s first-round matchup against Denver on April 24, “is making good progress in his recovery and will be reevaluated again in one week.”

After Gary Payton II suffered a fractured left elbow in the Warriors’ Game 2 loss to the Grizzlies on Tuesday, head coach Steve Kerr said the club was hopeful Iguodala would be available for Game 3 in an effort to slow down Ja Morant, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

Morant, exploded for 47 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in Game 2 — including his team’s final 15 points. Obviously, having Iguodala available to defend Morant is off the table for now, as the veteran is still hampered by his neck injury.

Once a crucial part of Golden State’s lineup and an NBA Finals MVP in 2015, Iguodala battled injuries this season and was limited to 31 regular season appearances. However, the 38-year-old had been a part of Kerr’s playoff rotation when healthy, logging at least 12 minutes in three of the team’s first four playoff games. He missed Game 2 vs. the Nuggets due to a bilateral neck spasm.

As Slater notes (Twitter link), Iguodala will be sidelined for at least Games 3, 4 and 5 against Memphis.

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And-Ones: Coaching Candidates, Kirkwood, Garuba, Embiid

May 4th, 2022 at 11:39am CST by Luke Adams

Suns assistant Kevin Young, Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee, Celtics assistant Will Hardy, Grizzlies assistant Darko Rajakovic, Heat assistants Chris Quinn and Malik Allen, and Warriors assistants Mike Brown and Kenny Atkinson are among the assistants around the NBA who are viewed as potential head coaching candidates by league insiders, according to ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz (Insider-only link).

A number of the names on Arnovitz’s list have been linked to one or more of the NBA’s three current head coaching openings. Ham and Brown, for instance, all believed to be under consideration by all three of the Hornets, Lakers, and Kings.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Harvard senior guard Noah Kirkwood, who declared for the 2022 NBA draft as an early entrant, has decided to remain in the draft and go pro rather than using his final year of college eligibility, according to agent Ronnie Zeidel (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports).
  • Rockets forward/center Usman Garuba said in an interview with Spanish outlet AS.com that he’s committed to representing Spain at this year’s EuroBasket competition, as Eurohoops relays.
  • In an intriguing bit of international basketball news, an RMC Sport report indicates that Sixers center Joel Embiid is exploring the possibility of obtaining French citizenship and representing France in future international events. Embiid was born in Cameroon, but has family from France and has never suited up for the Cameroonian national team.
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Grizzlies/Warriors Notes: Morant, Iguodala, Brooks, Green

May 4th, 2022 at 9:05am CST by Luke Adams

Despite having his vision affected after he was poked in the eye in the third quarter, star guard Ja Morant had one of the most impressive performances of his career on Tuesday, scoring 47 points – including the Grizzlies‘ final 15 points – to lead the team to a Game 2 victory over Golden State. Morant told reporters after the game that he was having trouble seeing out of his left eye in the fourth quarter, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

“I can see on the middle. I can’t see on the outside. I got punched trying to get the rebound,” Morant said. “I got another good eye over here (on the right side) — 20-20 vision right here. Thank God for my right eye.”

As Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer details, the Warriors had no answer for Morant after Gary Payton II left Tuesday’s game due to a fractured elbow, and will have to reassess their game plan for defending the electric 22-year-old prior to Game 3 on Saturday.

When asked after Tuesday’s game about the Warriors’ plan for Morant, head coach Steve Kerr said the club hopes Andre Iguodala (neck) will be available for Game 3, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic. However, Iguodala is 38 years old and has battled injuries for much of the season, so Golden State can’t realistically expect him to shut down one of the league’s top scorers.

Here’s more on the Grizzlies/Warriors series:

  • Kerr was upset by the flagrant foul that injured Payton and earned Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks an ejection, as Kendra Andrews of ESPN writes. “I don’t know if it was intentional, but it was dirty,” Kerr said. “There is a code. This code that players follow where you never put a guy’s season [or] career in jeopardy by taking somebody out in midair and clubbing him across the head, ultimately fracturing Gary’s elbow … He broke the code. Dillon Brooks broke the code.”
  • The NBA is expected to further evaluate Brooks’ foul to see if it warrants a suspension, Andrews writes. Since there will be three off days before Game 3 tips off on Saturday, an announcement from the league shouldn’t necessarily be expected today.
  • Draymond Green, who briefly returned to the locker room after taking a hit to the right eye, had no regrets about flipping his middle fingers to the crowd on his way off the court, Andrews notes. “You gonna boo someone who was elbowed in the eye and face is running with blood, you should get flipped off,” Green said. “I’ll take the fine. I’ll do an appearance and make up the money. It felt really good to flip them off. … If they are going to be that nasty, I will be nasty too. I’m assuming the cheers were because they know I’ll be fined. Great — I make $25 million a year. I should be just fine.” Green got back in the game after receiving stitches for a right eye laceration, but Kerr said the former Defensive Player of the Year “was struggling” with the injury.
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Gary Payton II Leaves Game 2 With Left Elbow Fracture

May 3rd, 2022 at 11:45pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

11:45 PM: Payton has fractured his left elbow, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (via Twitter). Slater notes that tomorrow’s MRI will indicate the severity of the injury.

9:33 PM: The Warriors‘ second-round playoff matchup against the Grizzlies remains chippy as Game 2 takes place tonight.

After taking a hard foul from Grizzlies wing Dillon Brooks on a breakaway drive (Twitter video link, as captured by Bleacher Report), Warriors starting shooting guard Gary Payton II exited the contest and headed back to Golden State’s locker room. Brooks was instantly assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game.

The Warriors announced (via Twitter) that they have ruled out Payton for the rest of Game 2, following X-rays on his left elbow (Twitter link). Payton logged just 2:52 of game action.

Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets that the imaging on the elbow proved “inconclusive,” but that Payton would undergo an MRI tomorrow that would hopefully have more answers for the Warriors.

Payton’s Golden State teammate Draymond Green also left the game after a Grizzlies player fouled him. Memphis center Xavier Tillman elbowed Green in the face, as Trisha Easto of the Memphis Commercial Appeal recaps. Green flashed a rude hand gesture in response to the FedEx Forum crowd, which could incur an NBA fine. The Warriors revealed (Twitter link) that Green suffered a right eye laceration and received stitches. He returned to the contest after being sewn up.

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Pacific Notes: Green, Poole, Booker, Kings Job

May 2nd, 2022 at 10:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Draymond Green picked up a Flagrant Foul 2 in the second-round opener against the Grizzlies but he’s not going to alter his style, Kendra Andrews of ESPN writes.

“I am never going to change the way I play basketball,” the Warriors forward said. “It’s gotten me this far. Gotten me three championships, four All-Stars, Defensive Player of the Year. I’m not going to change now.”

We have more out of the Pacific Division:

  • Jordan Poole‘s dramatic improvement is chronicled by Andrews in a separate story. The Warriors’ guard put in extra work during the early days of the pandemic and it has paid off. Poole’s 31-point, nine-assist game against Memphis on Sunday was the latest example of his breakthrough year. “I’ve always made people eat their words,” Poole said. “I never went to the media and said anything about anybody else. I just shut up, take it all in and let my game do the talking. It feels a lot better. Oh, my god, it feels so good.”
  • Prior to the conference semifinals matchup against Dallas on Monday night, Suns All-Star Devin Booker said the hamstring injury that cost three games in the opening round is no longer an issue, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. “Feels great. Ready to go,” Booker said.
  • Among the three finalists for the coaching job, Mike Brown is the Kings’ best choice, James Ham of The Kings Beat opines. Brown checks all of the boxes, has the best résumé, and deserves another head coaching opportunity, Ham writes. Steve Clifford would be a safe choice but hasn’t enjoyed previous success like Brown, while Ham believes Mark Jackson would be a major risk.
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Western Notes: Adams, Bane, Gobert, Bullock, Green, Clarke

May 2nd, 2022 at 8:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

A day before Game 2 of his team’s second-round series against the Warriors, Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said that center Steven Adams remains in the league’s health and safety protocols, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN tweets. Adams, who was placed in the protocols on Thursday, is listed as out for Tuesday’s game, the team’s PR department tweets. Starting guard Desmond Bane is listed as questionable due to lower back soreness. Bane was limited to nine points in 32 minutes in Game 1 on Sunday.

We have more from the Western Conference:

  • Rudy Gobert and his agent are still awaiting their annual exit meeting with the Jazz, Tony Jones of The Athletic tweets. That meeting will likely determine how the two sides proceed going forward into the offseason, Jones adds. Utah is expected to shake things up after another early playoff exit. Gobert has four years remaining on his five-year, $205MM contract.
  • Reggie Bullock‘s defensive importance was so profound against the Jazz that the Mavericks played him 254 of a possible 288 minutes in the series. Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News writes an in-depth piece on Bullock and how personal tragedies have shaped his career. Bullock is in the first year of a three-year deal, though the final season isn’t fully guaranteed.
  • The NBA upheld Draymond Green‘s Flagrant Foul 2 ruling in Game 1 of the Warriors’ series against the Grizzlies. The player who was fouled, Brandon Clarke, wasn’t surprised that Green committed such an infraction (ESPN video link). “He’s been known for flagrant fouls in his career. I’ve watched him on TV my whole life, it feels like, so I wasn’t really shocked,” Clarke said.
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NBA Won’t Rescind Draymond Green’s Flagrant 2 Foul

May 2nd, 2022 at 11:55am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA won’t reduce or rescind the Flagrant 2 foul assessed to Warriors forward/center Draymond Green in Game 1 of the team’s series vs. Memphis on Sunday, according to Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Green was called for the Flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game late in the second quarter after grabbing and pulling the jersey of Grizzlies big man Brandon Clarke as Clarke attempted a layup (video link).

As we relayed earlier today, Green expressed optimism during an episode of his podcast on Sunday night that the league would review and adjust the foul, perhaps reducing it to a Flagrant 1. However, it appears that won’t happen.

Players are given two flagrant foul points for a Flagrant 2 foul and one for a Flagrant 1 during the postseason, with four total flagrant foul points resulting in an automatic one-game suspension. Green is now halfway to that automatic suspension and would be forced to miss a game if he’s called for another Flagrant 2 or two Flagrant 1 fouls during the remainder of the playoffs.

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Pacific Notes: Green, Nurse, Lakers, Ayton

May 2nd, 2022 at 11:14am CST by Luke Adams

Having received a costly suspension for Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals after having accumulated four flagrant foul points during that postseason, Warriors forward/center Draymond Green is conscious of not repeating that mistake in this year’s playoffs, writes Eric He of NBC Sports Bay Area.

Green was called for a Flagrant 2 foul in Sunday’s win over Memphis, resulting in two flagrant foul points. If he’s called for another Flagrant 2 foul or two Flagrant 1 fouls in this year’s postseason, he would subject to an automatic one-game suspension.

“My biggest worry moving forward is that gives me two flagrant foul points, and as we know I’ve been ejected for accumulation of flagrant foul points,” Green said, per He, during an emergency episode of his podcast on Sunday night. “So I’m hoping that the right thing will happen, and that it will at least get rescinded to a Flagrant 1.”

Green later expressed even more confidence that the NBA would review his foul and make an adjustment: “I’m looking forward to it getting rescinded.”

[UPDATE: NBA Won’t Rescind Draymond Green’s Flagrant 2 Foul]

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

  • Asked today about reports that the Lakers are interested in him and whether he plans to remain in Toronto going forward, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse dismissed those L.A. rumors. “I don’t know where that stuff comes from and I’m focused on coaching this team (the Raptors),” Nurse said (Twitter link via Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca).
  • Bill Oram of The Athletic makes the case that the Lakers shouldn’t necessarily trade Russell Westbrook this offseason, arguing that the team won’t have any real chance of “winning” a Westbrook deal since his value is so low. If Los Angeles hangs onto the veteran point guard into next season, it’s possible he could increase his value a little, or new in-season trade opportunities could arise, Oram writes.
  • Deandre Ayton‘s ability to take advantage of frontcourt mismatches on offense and to capably switch onto perimeter players on defense makes him a potential X-factor in the Suns’ second-round series vs. Dallas, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (subscriber link). Ayton will be a restricted free agent this offseason.
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Draymond Green Ejected From Game 1; Gary Payton II Attributes Athleticism To Mom

May 1st, 2022 at 9:15pm CST by JD Shaw
  • Warriors star Draymond Green was ejected in Game 1 against the Grizzlies on Sunday. Green committed a Flagrant 2 foul and riled up the crowd before exiting, as Kendra Andrews of ESPN tweets. The ejection decision was met with outrage from many fans, players and league observers. Players are automatically suspended by receiving four flagrant foul points in the playoffs, meaning Green would receive a one-game suspension with one more Flagrant 2 or two more Flagrant 1’s. He was famously suspended in Game 5 of the 2016 Finals for this same reason and later declared it cost the Warriors a title.
  • Marc J. Spears of Andscape.com examines where Warriors guard Gary Payton II got his athleticism from. Payton attributes it to his mother, who participated in track, high jump and long jump. His father, of course, is recognized as one of the league’s all-time great defenders and a stellar athlete himself. Payton received his first playoff start against Memphis on Sunday, finishing with eight points and six rebounds in just over 23 minutes.
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