Golden State Warriors: Will Andrew Wiggins play in crucial Game 6?

Golden State Warriors’ fans held their breath yesterday, with reports that Andrew Wiggins suffered an injury near the end of the Warriors’ Game 5 victory at Chase Center on Wednesday night.

Wiggins would not only finish the game, but the 6’7 wing played his best game of the series to date, notching 25 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Nevertheless, Wiggins experienced some discomfort as time progressed, sending his status for Game 6 up in the air.

Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Andrew Wiggins will attempt to play through a cartilage fracture in his ribs as the Golden State Warriors attempt to avoid elimination.

It’s clear that he won’t be operating at 100% and his shooting may be hampered, but Wiggins at 50% is better than no ‘Wiggs’ at all. The Warriors have employed the former All-Star as the primary defender on LeBron James, and Wiggins has done his part, limiting him to 46.3% shooting from the field, and 30.6 percent from three-point range — subpar for Lebron’s all-time standards.

For the series, Wiggins is averaging 16.8 points, 2.8 assists, and six rebounds in 33.1 minutes per game. His time may be limited on Friday night, but given that he’s dealing with an upper-body injury, his perimeter defense will be heavily relied upon if and when he takes to the court.

“I hope to see Andrew when that clock hits zero & we’ve got to jump the tip…He’s working on it”, said Warriors’ guard Gary Payton II at shootaround on Friday morning.

‘GPII’ was asked how problematic not having Wiggins on the floor would be for the Dubs who face a 3-2 deficit.

“We didn’t go over that so hopefully that means Wiggs is ready to go so hopefully we don’t got to worry about that.”

Golden State will look to send the series back to The Bay for a series-decider when Game 6 tips off at 7:00pm PT from Cryto.com Arena.