The Golden State Warriors were blown out by Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, losing touch with the top team in the Western Conference once their red-hot three-point shooting cooled off after halftime. The defending champions' 134-117 defeat was hardly surprising not just because they were playing on the second leg of a tough back-to-back at altitude, but also due to the absence of Draymond Green when facing perhaps the best player in basketball.
Despite he and Steph Curry getting cleared by trainers to play against the Nuggets after initially being listed as questionable, Green was a late scratch for Thursday's game, leaving Golden State without both its best one-on-one matchup on Jokic and the all-time help defender needed to keep the two-time reigning MVP from dominating as a playmaker.
The Dubs' blowout loss to the Nuggets wasn't exactly hard to see coming, even when they were shooting the lights out at Ball Arena.
(via @armstrongwinter)https://t.co/AJnNmUvx0L
— Warriors Nation (@WarriorNationCP) February 3, 2023
Much more significant in the big picture than Green's single-game absence, though, was the justification behind it: Right calf tightness, similar to the seemingly minor injury designation that ultimately caused him to miss two months of play last season.
Fortunately, Steve Kerr allayed the worst fears of Dub Nation on the postgame podium, mentioning multiple times that Green's current calf issue is believed to be of the minor variety.
“Draymond's injury last-second, not injury, but his calf tightened up on him,” Kerr said when discussing the Warriors reserves. Here's how he responded when asked directly about the extent of Green's injury: “Yeah, the belief is it's something minor, but obviously he'll get checked out when we get home.”
Phew.
Green only played the first seven seconds of Golden State's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 9th, 2022, merely taking the floor ceremonially for Klay Thompson's long-awaited return to action before heading to the bench for good. His calf tightened up on him during pre-game warmups, a malady the Warriors at first believed wouldn't keep him out long.
It was only over two months and related, newly discovered back issues later that Green was able to get back in the lineup, readying himself for Golden State's epic postseason title run.
Green insisted before 2022-23 tipped off that he was fully healthy, rid of the degenerative back injury that originally manifested as pain in his left calf—not the one at risk now. There's no reason to believe his current discomfort is related to the injury that required basically a full summer of offseason rehab.
“So all my rehab, as much as I was letting this heal, I was also rebuilding strength in my calf. I literally lost all strength in my calf,” Draymond Green said in late September. “So I couldn’t jump at all. Six weeks ago, I couldn’t run…probably four-and-a-half, five weeks ago, I couldn’t run.”
Still, let's keep our fingers crossed this calf injury doesn't trend that same debilitating direction.
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