Why Wiggins is key to Warriors’ continued ownage of Rockets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
HOUSTON – Shortly before Warriors coach Steve Kerr spoke to reporters after practice on the home court of the Houston Rockets, the injury report showed Moses Moody is out for Wednesday night’s NBA Cup quarterfinals game with left patellar tendonopathy and Andrew Wiggins questionable with a right ankle impingement.
The former clearly was known to Kerr, but the latter escaped him. To Kerr, Wiggins is good to go against the Rockets, barring any unforeseen setbacks.
“Andrew is ready to go,” Kerr said. “Had a full practice today, he looked good.”
Wiggins missed the Warriors’ 114-106 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday because of that same ankle issue, a problem that has been bugging him for a bit now. Wiggins said it’s the inside of his ankle that’s bother him most, but he has pain on the outside as well.
Overall, though, it isn’t anything he can’t play through.
“It’s all right,” Wiggins says. “It’s better than the other day.”
Wiggins first had trouble with his right ankle in the Warriors’ win over the Phoenix Suns on Nov. 30 and played through it a few days later in their loss to the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 3. Kerr admitted after the Warriors’ win against the Rockets two days later on Dec. 5 that Wiggins probably shouldn’t have even played because of how much his ankle was bothering him.
But the Warriors were already without Steph Curry and Draymond Green for the contest, making Wiggins’ availability even more important. He was a key reason the Warriors were able to outlast the Rockets that night, too.
Jonathan Kuminga’s career-high 33 points was the story of the Warriors beating the Rockets for a second time this season last week, although Wiggins wasn’t too far behind. Wiggins scored 23 points, second to only Kuminga, on an extremely efficient 8-of-15 shooting and was 3 of 4 on 3-pointers. He also came down with seven rebounds, including four in the fourth quarter.
The first time the Warriors played the Rockets they nearly blew a 31-point lead, needing overtime for a six-point win. Wiggins scored 15 points in the win on only 3-of-9 shooting, scoring seven of his points at the free-throw line.
“They’re very active defensively,” Wiggins said. “A young team, they have a lot of guys that can get going. We’ve played them a couple times already, played them pretty well. We haven’t played them with a full squad this year yet, so it should be fun.”
His scoring also is just one part of his importance to the Warriors. As Wiggins said, the Rockets have multiple players who can heat up in a hurry – Jalen Green being one of them.
Thus far, Wiggins has given Green whiplash watching his shots clank, rarely getting in a groove and finding his stride offensively. With Wiggins as the primary defender guarding him, Green has scored a total of 21 points on the Warriors in two games, dropping seven in their first matchup and 14 in their second.
The former No. 2 overall draft pick has averaged 10.5 points on 20.7 percent shooting (6 of 29) and 11.1 percent on 3-pointers (1 of 9) when playing the Warriors this season. Against all other teams, Green is averaging 20.2 points in the 22 other games he has played this season.
Specifically, Wiggins has guarded Green for 11 1/2 minutes, allowing the young shooting guard to score seven points on 2-of-8 shooting. Wiggins has blocked his shot once, and Green has only made one 3-pointer on him.
Golden State has got the better of Houston in 15 straight games between these former bitter Western Conference rivals. A full squad with a healthy Wiggins hounding Green and the Rockets defensively, and being a reliable threat offensively, gives the Warriors a whole better chance of making it 16 in a row.
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