The injuries keep piling up for the Golden State Warriors, who will be without yet another regular when they face the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday in San Francisco.
Moses Moody scored a team-high 23 points before sustaining a season-ending torn left patella tendon in Golden State’s 137-131 overtime win over the host Dallas Mavericks on Monday.
With 58.5 seconds remaining in overtime, Moody had to be stretchered off the floor in his first action since missing 10 games with a sprained right wrist. The fifth-year guard joined stars Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler on the Warriors’ injured list.
“It’s tough,” guard Gary Payton II said. “It’s his first game back and he does so much rehab and everything, takes care of his body, does what he needs to do to get back. And then to see a non-contact thing happen … it’s annoying to see, especially to Moses.
“He does all the right things, he’s a pro. It sucks to see Moses go down. He’s in our prayers, I know he’ll bounce back.”
Golden State (34-38) entered Tuesday 1 1/2 games behind the Portland Trail Blazers in the battle for the ninth spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament.
Kristaps Porzingis helped the Warriors snap a three-game losing streak on Monday with 22 points, while Brandin Podziemski added 20 and Payton had 17. Podziemski also tallied 10 rebounds and six assists in the victory.
Payton, LJ Cryer and Will Richard will likely see increased playing time with Moody out. Cryer and Richard scored a combined 26 points in Monday’s win.
The Warriors will look to regroup following Moody’s injury when they face Brooklyn (17-55), which has lost eight in a row.
Golden State seeks a season sweep of the Nets after winning 120-107 in Brooklyn on Dec. 29.
The Nets committed 22 turnovers in a 134-99 road loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday. Brooklyn trailed by as many as 38 and sent Portland to the foul line 40 times.
“We got outplayed. We lost every single quarter,” Nets coach Jordi Fernandez said. “So, no excuse of any kind. The second-chance (shots), the free throws, the points off turnovers ended up being even, but we lost the possession game. We lost the physicality part of it, the effort, everything.”
The short-handed Nets played without Danny Wolf (ankle), Drake Powell (knee-injury management), Terance Mann (rest), Michael Porter Jr. (hamstring) and Noah Clowney (right wrist sprain).
Tyson Etienne scored a career-high 18 points against Portland to lead the Nets, while Ziaire Williams added 16 and Josh Minott had 15. Nic Claxton returned after missing one game due to rest and scored 10 points in just over 21 minutes.
Fernandez complimented Williams’ play after the game while also commenting on his team’s lack of competitiveness.
“(Williams’) line was efficient and he got to the free-throw line, but again, every player lost their minutes and we have to be better as a group,” Fernandez said. “I have to be better getting them ready to play and being better than this.”
One bright spot over the past week has been the play of rookie guard Ben Saraf, who scored a season-high 22 points in Sunday’s road loss to the Sacramento Kings and has reached double digits in six of his last seven games.
–Field Level Media
