Golden State Warriors: Eric Paschall plays big minutes in NBA debut

Golden State Warriors rookie forward Eric Paschall made valuable contributions in his first NBA regular-season action with injuries hampering the normal rotation.

A little over six months ago, Eric Paschall lead the Villanova Wildcats to a Big East title and a decent March Madness run. Last night, he played the second-most minutes for the Golden State Warriors in their season opener against the L.A. Clippers.

With Willie-Cauley Stein missing time due to a foot injury, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney were figured to see the majority of minutes for the team’s frontcourt. However, both of them are also struggling with injuries.

In the first quarter of the game, Green spent time on the sideline with an elbow injury and Looney didn’t return for the second half with a hamstring injury. The Warriors needed that extra body to step up.

As a result, Paschall was called on to make major contributions in his first time seeing NBA action. He logged 31 total minutes over the course of the game, despite the Warriors extreme struggles against the Clippers, who were firing on all cylinders, shooting 62.5% from the field.

Paschall took advantage of these extra minutes, scoring 14 points, grabbing four rebounds, and dishing out three assists. He did all of this efficiently too, going 6/13 from the field, 2/3 from the free-throw line, and only turning the ball over once.

Another feather in Paschall’s cap was that he finished as a +5 (the Warriors outscored the Clippers by five when Paschall was on the floor).

The Warriors gave up an unnaturally high 141 points, allowing five players on the Clippers to score over 15 points. For reference, Draymond Green was a -35, Steph Curry was a -19, and D’Angelo Russell was a -35.

When on the court, Paschall helped to weather the storm that was Los Angeles. As Green, Cauley-Stein, and Looney return from injury, Paschall will likely see less and less time and mainly be sitting and learning from those guys.

All in all though, it was very encouraging to see Paschall’s ability to produce if a situation like this one arises again.