The return of Klay Thompson for the Golden State Warriors was ideally supposed to have sent ripples of fear across teams, but Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies breezed past with a 116-108 scorecard for their tenth straight win on Tuesday.
It wasn’t that sort of a loss that will linger on the minds of the Dubs or their fans for long, not when they’re up against two of the top five teams in the Eastern Conference. They take on the Milwaukee Bucks and the Chicago Bulls in two road games that will test their mettle with Klay on board.
Historically, Golden State has a poor head-to-head record against both these sides. Per Land of Basketball, Milwaukee has seen quite the dominance against the Warriors. They have played 140 regular-season games against each other with the Bucks leading 84-56.
The Bucks welcome the Golden State Warriors at the Fiserv Forum after the Charlotte Hornets stung them 114-106.
The defending champs have won three of their last five games and will be facing the Dubs for the first time this season.
The absence of Draymond Green just makes the task that much harder, especially when it comes to defense. NBC’s Dalton Johnson reported that coach Steve Kerr doesn’t expect Green to take the court in both their upcoming clashes.
"“I think it’s doubtful right now that he would join us,” Kerr said. “He’s doing well. With the back-to-back, it seems far-fetched to think that we’ll just fly him out and play him. He’s not ready to do that."
It’s a no-brainer that the Warriors have played some of their best basketball with Green on the hardwood. In the six games he’s missed this season, Golden State is 2-4 and that shows the importance of the 31-year-old to the side.
Next up, the Warriors vs Bulls. The last time both these sides met, Curry exploded for 40 points taming Chicago with a 119-93 win. Since the loss, Zach LaVine and his men have notched up some scintillating performances to stay on top of the Eastern Conference with a 27-11 record.
Again, a quick look at their head-to-head over the years shows that the Bulls have enjoyed a healthy 84-77 run against the Warriors. And have some tough games coming up — The Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics will be their opponents before and after their Golden State scrimmage.
Now Boston has failed in clutch moments and is a below-par unit in the fourth quarter so far his season, so expect the new-look and impressive Bulls to bag that in, but the Nets and Warriors are stiff challenges.
The question is if Kerr is ready to see the results go south. Klay played 19 minutes in both his appearances, and despite his returning fluency, he’s playing limited minutes per game to stay healthy for a grueling second half of the season.
With that pattern probably continuing for a few more games, and Green likely to sit out at the United Center, these two games against teams that are playoff favorites will be a stern test.