After a soul-crushing loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night, the Warriors' 113-109 bounce-back win on Friday night at Chase Center against NBA-worst Detroit Pistons gave Steve Kerr and Co. a short escape from the madness surrounding his team.
The win also created another hurdle for the Warriors to overcome.
With six minutes to go in the third quarter, Chris Paul sustained a fracture in his left hand that will require surgery next week and keep the 38-year-old out indefinitely.
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Paul's injury opens the door for Moses Moody to possibly reintegrate himself into the Warriors rotation.
Paul’s injury forced Kerr to go to the bench, calling Cory Joseph as Paul’s direct replacement. It was then that the sold-out Chase Center crowd erupted in a “Moody” chant, signaling for the third-year NBA player, who had been a DNP the three previous games, to come into the contest.
Speaking to NBC Sports Bay Area's Zena Keita after the game, rookie guard Brandin Podziemski confessed that the energy Joseph and Moody provided against Detroit will be important for the Warriors as they host the Toronto Raptors Sunday night and beyond.
“Taking our energy off the bench. Cory and Moses did a great job,” Podziemski told Keita. “I felt like we were dead in the third quarter, and they came in and provided a huge spark. We are going to need that going forward.”
Golden State Warriors
Hours before tip-off, a report circulated that Jonathan Kuminga had “lost faith in coach Steve Kerr,” which was cleared up by Kuminga himself during Friday night’s postgame press conference.
Like Kuminga, Moody was going into Friday’s game with his name making the headlines, as it was reported by KRON4's Jason Dumas, citing sources, that the player’s camp was “frustrated” with the guard's uncertain role in Kerr’s system and consistency on the floor.
Moody played six minutes, finishing 0 of 3 from the field and 0 of 1 from 3-point range with one rebound, while Joseph tallied three points and added two assists during nine minutes of action.
Moody, 21, is having the best season of his three-year NBA career, averaging 8.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 47.7 percent shooting from the field in 32 games.