Golden State Warriors center Zaza Pachulia will sit out for the third consecutive game tonight against the New Orleans Pelicans with a right wrist injury, according to Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News.
JaVale McGee will make his first start of the season after Anderson Varejao and Kevon Looney have each had a shot to start in previous games, proving largely ineffective with zero and four points respectively.
Head coach Steve Kerr explained why they've used a different big man to start in place of the injured Pachulia the last two games.
“With Zaza out and having a full complement of players, we wanted to look at a couple different things,” Kerr said. “We looked at Looney the other night. We kind of liked the matchup the other night for Looney. We’ve done a good job on Towns, so we got a good look at that. We’ll take a look at JaVale tonight. Again, it’s just early in the season and experimenting a little bit with different combinations.”
McGee hasn't started since Jan. 13 back in his stint with the Dallas Mavericks last season. This start can pay dividends for him if he can make something of it, as for the most part he's left Varejao buried deep in the bench and has become the preferred center for his athleticism and rim protection.
If he can garner a good showing, it could potentially mean more consistent minutes in the near future as Kerr has been reluctant to play his centers for more than a combined 28 minutes all season.
“I think it’s just a different look to go with him in the starting group, then bring Looney off the bench, and David, and get into our rotation in a different way,” Kerr said. “Just a different look, but I’m very confident in JaVale.”
Pachulia received X-rays on his wrist, as test results came out negative. He will get an MRI when the team returns to Oakland on Wednesday.
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