SAN FRANCISCO– What Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody did in the Golden State Warriors' 128-117 upset over the Denver Nuggets is kind of what the Dubs have long been dreaming about.
No Stephen Curry again as he continues to heal his runner's knee. Kristaps Porzingis ruled out with an undisclosed illness. Draymond Green was a late scratch with “left lower back soreness,” and Jimmy Butler is obviously out for the season. And it didn't really matter, at least for this game.
In their absences, Podizemski collected 18 points, 15 rebounds, and nine assists, closing out the Nuggets with 15 fourth-quarter points without a single miss.
“Phenomenal,” Steve Kerr said of Podziemski's fourth quarter. “I think he had eight rebounds in the quarter. Hit a couple big shots. He was brilliant, and we needed it… It's been up and down for [him], for sure. But our season has been up and down as a whole, and sometimes a team's struggles impact the individuals. But we know what he can do. For the last couple of years, he's been one of our highest plus-minus players. He's very versatile player.
Next to Podziemski, Moody led the team with 23 points, along with 7 rebounds and five assists. Another steady game for a player who's become the team's safety blanket, especially without their stars.
“Moses has been brilliant for six weeks,” Kerr said. He's shooting the lights out– the confidence. He's maybe been our most consistent performer. His on-ball defense– he's top of the league against pick and roll. And he's such a great teammate. He's there for you every night the way he works. He's so poised. It's really fun to watch Moses blossom and have such a good season.”
The two remaining first-round draft picks of the young core did what's alluded the Warriors in the later years of the Curry dynasty. They gave Golden State that youth and that juice that's been sorely lacking– they looked like the pieces that could give this purgatory-doomed Warriors team a real chance when Curry inevitably returns.
Podz and Moody's growth
For Podizemski in particular, it's been a rocky season thus far. He's struggled with on-court shortcomings as well as the vitriol from a large portion of the fanbase– in a season where he's eligible for an extension come the summer. But Kerr maintained his belief in the young combo guard, pointing to games like this as examples for what he and the staff have been trying to hammer home.
“He's a really confident guy. He wants the ball, he wants the big shot, but like every player, he needs the rhythm,” Kerr said. “He needs the flow of the game, and he can help himself. It's one of the things we're trying to teach him. He can help himself by actually getting off the ball earlier in a possession and then getting it back. And at times he wants to make the play from the outset, and that's a lot to do. So he's still learning and growing, but that was a fantastic night.”
As for Moody, who, as Kerr pointed out, has averaged 14.4 points on 45.7% shooting over the last six weeks, it's been about simplifying the game, in his words.
“I had a conversation with coach [Kerr] yesterday,” Moody recounted. “And I was asking him, with Steph being gone, do you need me to do anything else? Does my role change at all? And he was saying, that's one of his favorite things about me.Just that the composure and the being solid, and I've been really solid for a long time. And I heard that, and that's the same thing that I've been thinking. But it's cool to have somebody else say it too, what you are, what's been in your head.”
It's a mindset Moody acknowledged he had to grow into. Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, Moody's game never got picked apart because he was the best player in the state. Things changed in the NBA and it forced him to adapt.
“I don't take everything everybody says, but finding things that make sense, and a lot of those things fall in that lane to be able to make offense flow.”
Injury updates for the Warriors
Golden State had to rally with their two big names in the frontcourt ruled out the day of the game.
Kerr told reporters that Porzingis was too sick to leave his hotel room and spent the game in bed trying to recover. But the Dubs coach did not disclose precisely what was ailing Porzingis specifically. With his chronic health bouts with POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), speculation is certainly bound to wander in that direction.
But that was the risk the Warriors were willing to take with the big man. They understood his health history and have said they made the trade with full confidence in his medicals. Whether this illness lingers through the week, Kerr could not say, as the coach didn't give much of an answer as to the specifics of his condition.
As for Green, Kerr and the team hope he can be available for the upcoming road trip. Kerr told reporters that Green's lower back tightened up during warmups, so they decided to forgo making him play through the pain and discomfort. But unlike in years past, Green's absence wasn't nearly as debilitating to due to the decline in his game. His offense is a non-factor, and his defense comes and goes with the tides.
“We know too that as you get older, it's tougher to do it every night,” Kerr acknowledged pre-game. “In his prime, you could count on him every single night you get older. It just doesn't work that way. There's going to be nights where shots go in. There's nights where they don't. But the thing that's consistent with Draymond is he's there for us every night. The level of defensive intensity, but also just his acumen, is so helpful for us.”
It's been a tough transition for both Green and the Warriors, especially given the trade rumors he was in during the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. But the belief remains in him organizationally. From Steve Kerr all the way up to Joe Lacob.
