Already without veteran stars Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, along with another starter in Moses Moody, the Golden State Warriors injury crisis has deepened even further during Friday's 127-117 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Chase Center.
The Warriors ruled Draymond Green out in the hours before the game due to a back injury, then suffered a further three injuries in what was a spirited second-half effort after finding themselves down 25 in the third-quarter.
Warriors suffer further injury blows during loss to Timberwolves
Veteran big man Al Horford started but played less than five minutes, having been ruled out for the remainder of the game due to calf tightness. Veteran sharpshooter Seth Curry also left the game in the first-half with an adductor injury, while Quinten Post too went down with an ankle concern.
It left Golden State incredibly short-handed and particularly in the frontcourt with Green, Horford and Post unavailable. Kristaps Porzingis played 20 minutes in his fourth game with the Warriors, but Steve Kerr was left to play forwards Malevy Leons and Gui Santos for plenty of center minutes in the second-half.
Golden State battled hard down the stretch and briefly threatened a shock comeback victory, but ultimately didn't have the man-power or the star-power to defy the Timberwolves and 42 points from superstar guard Minnesota Timberwolves.
Brandin Podziemski led the way for the Warriors with 25 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 8-of-18 from the floor and 5-of-10 from 3-point range. Fellow youngster Gui Santos was just shy of his own double-double, recording 17 points and eight assists in a team-high 37 minutes.
Golden Sate didn't necessarily shoot themselves in the foot, committing only eight turnovers and recording three more offensive rebounds than Minnesota. However, they shot less than 40% from the floor and 31.3% from 3-point range.
Kristaps Porzingis continues promising return
Porzingis continued his promising return, recording 20 points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in his limited playing time. The veteran center has now scored 37 points over his last two games, though the shooting efficiency still needs to come around after going just 7-of-16 from the floor again on Friday.
The former All-Star big man has been a productive source of offense for Golden State without their stars, and it's ironic that he was the one sole big man left for Kerr given all his unavailability issues in recent times.
The mounting injury concerns come at a bad time for the Warriors who are now set to embark on a six-game road-trip, with matchups against the Pistons, Celtics and Knicks included over the next four games.