SAN FRANCISCO — Al Horford made an undeniable impact the first time he took the floor in front of the Warriors’ home fans at Chase Center, but when the team returned home Monday to face the Memphis Grizzlies, he was ruled out.
Thus is the touch-and-go situation Golden State will navigate all season with the 39-year-old big man. The same as he did last season with the Boston Celtics, Horford will not play on consecutive days, giving coach Steve Kerr a decision to make before every set of back-to-backs.
This time around, Kerr opted to have Horford on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Clippers, who have historically presented a handful with 7-footer Ivica Zubac down low. That meant the Warriors had to find a way to handle Jaren Jackson Jr. and the Grizzlies without him.
“For tonight and tomorrow, it was the emphasis on the Clippers’ size and Zubac,” Kerr said Monday before tipoff of the determining factor. “We could have used him tonight against J.J., too. But we can only have him for one game, obviously.”
It’s a decision Kerr will have to make 14 times this season — the number of back-to-backs on the Warriors’ schedule. Golden State was also without Horford for its 139-119 loss in Portland on Friday night after playing him 28 minutes in their overtime win against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets on Thursday.
There isn’t a plan mapped out in advance; Kerr said he is evaluating the situation on a “week to week, even day-to-day” basis. For now, the determination mostly comes down to matchups — the size of the Clippers and Nuggets making the first two relatively routine decisions — “but later on, it may be health,” Kerr said.
“It might have been different tonight if, say, Draymond (Green) had been injured,” he said. “We just have to take everything into account each week when we make these decisions.”
Defense takes heat
Horford helped unlock a defensive combination that neutered the Nuggets’ size — outscoring Denver 28-15 over the final 8:50 of their overtime win — but without him against the up-tempo Trail Blazers, the Warriors’ defense reverted to its worst habits and allowed Portland to grow a lead as wide as 25 points.
The Blazers outscored the Warriors in the paint 66-30, but Kerr took a bigger issue with their play in transition.
“Transition defense has not been good,” Kerr said.
That area of the game was particularly important given the number of opportunities to run afforded to the Blazers by 25 Warriors turnovers. They committed only nine in their win over Denver, which included an extra five-minute overtime period.
“It’s got to come down,” Kerr said of the number of turnovers. “Every game is different, obviously the personnel we face is different. We’re going to turn the ball over more against Portland than we do against Denver; it’s just the nature of how the game is played. But we have to limit our turnovers because it will dramatically help our defense.”
Podziemski ‘not his best’
Entering the Warriors’ fourth game of the season Monday night, Brandin Podziemski had three assists to his name — good for exactly one per game.
Podziemski, 22, is averaging averaged 3.5 assists per game in his first two years in the league. He underwent to repair ailments in his wrist and his abdomen that he attributed his poor play late last season and said he was fully healthy entering his third year.
Kerr acknowledged that Podziemski “is not at his best right now” and suggested the young guard might be “pressing,” similar to the start of last season.
“Brandin always wants to be great,” Kerr said. “Sometimes he just needs to relax and be good.”