Why Wiggins is key to the Warriors’ continued ownership of the Rockets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
HOUSTON – Shortly before Warriors coach Steve Kerr spoke to reporters after practice at the Houston Rockets’ home court, the injury report showed that Moses Moody is out for the NBA quarterfinal game. Wednesday night’s NBA Cup with left patellar tendinopathy and Andrew Wiggins questionable with a right ankle impingement. .
Kerr clearly knew the first, but the second eluded him. For Kerr, Wiggins is good to face the Rockets, barring unforeseen setbacks.
“Andrew is ready to go,” Kerr said. “I had a full practice today, it looked good.”
Wiggins missed the Warriors victory 114-106 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday because of that same ankle issue, an issue that has been bothering him for a while now. Wiggins said it’s the inside of his ankle that bothers him the most, but the outside also hurts.
Overall, though, it’s not something I can’t get over.
“It’s okay,” Wiggins says. “It’s better than the other day.”
Wiggins first struggled with his right ankle in the Warriors’ win over the Phoenix Suns on Nov. 30 and overcame it a few days later in their loss to the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 3. Kerr admitted after the Warriors’ win against the Phoenix Suns. Rockets two days later, on December 5, that Wiggins probably shouldn’t have even played because of how much his ankle was bothering him.
But the Warriors were already without Steph Curry and Draymond Green for the contest, making Wiggins’ availability even more important. He was also a key reason why the Warriors were able to survive the Rockets that night.
Jonathan Kuminga’s 33 points, the highest of his career It was the story of the Warriors beating the Rockets for the second time this season last week, although Wiggins was not far behind. Wiggins scored 23 points, second only to Kuminga, with an extremely efficient 8 of 15 shooting and 3 of 4 on triples. He also had seven rebounds, including four in the fourth quarter.
The first time the Warriors played the Rockets they nearly blew a 31-point lead and needed overtime to win by six points. Wiggins scored 15 points in the win on just 3-of-9 shooting, scoring seven of his points at the free throw line.
“They’re very active defensively,” Wiggins said. “It is a young team that has many guys who can move forward. We’ve played them a couple of times now, we’ve played them pretty well. We haven’t played them with a full team yet this year, so it should be fun.”
His scoring is also only part of his importance to the Warriors. As Wiggins said, the Rockets have several players who can get hot quickly: Jalen Green is one of them.
So far, Wiggins has given Green whiplash by watching his shots ring, rarely getting into a rhythm and finding his offensive rhythm. With Wiggins as the primary defender guarding him, Green scored a total of 21 points on the Warriors in two games, dropping seven in their first meeting and 14 in the second.
The former No. 2 overall draft pick has averaged 10.5 points on 20.7 percent shooting (6 of 29) and 11.1 percent on 3-pointers (1 of 9) when playing against the Warriors this season. Against all other teams, Green is averaging 20.2 points in the other 22 games he has played this season.
Specifically, Wiggins has guarded Green for 11 and a half minutes, allowing the young guard to score seven points on 2-of-8 shooting. Wiggins blocked his shot once and Green only hit one three-pointer.
Golden State has beaten Houston in 15 straight games between these former bitter Western Conference rivals. A full team with a healthy Wiggins harassing Green and the Rockets on defense, and being a reliable threat on offense, gives the Warriors a much better chance of making it 16 in a row.
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