Are Draymond Green and Klay Thompson playing against the New Orleans Pelicans tonight, April 12?
The Golden State Warriors have their sights set on a late season climb up the conference standings but will have to beat the New Orleans Pelicans tonight.
There are just two games left in the regular season for the Golden State Warriors, but they are in the midst of a late season charge that could see them jump up a couple spots in the Western Conference before the head into the Play-In Tournament. They have a massive matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans tonight from Chase Center, but two of their stars come into tonight on the injury report.
Dray and Klay coming off rest in Portland
Draymond Green and Klay Thompson both missed the front end of their back-to-back series last night as they Warriors went into Portland and beat the Trail Blazers to set up tonight’s must win game in the Bay. Both were sidelined with knee injuries last night as they sat back and watched Steph Curry carry the load against a team looking to play spoiler.
Both Dray and Klay are back on the injury report today, listed as day-to-day but both are expected to play. If there was nothing to play for, then you could understand resting those two for the bigger games to come, but this is a must win if the Warriors want to move up the Play-In picture and avoid having to win two games just to get the 8 seed in the West.
The Warriors are the hottest team in the league right now, having rattled off 9 of their last 10 games. They are playing their best basketball of the season at just the right time, but know they have some work to do if they are going to get out of the 9 or 10 spot.
Coming down to the wire
The Lakers, Warriors and Kings are all even at 45-35 coming into the night, but the Kings hold the tie breaker over both 9th placed Golden State and 10th placed LA. The Phoenix Suns are two games above the three team tie at the bottom of the Play-In picture, and have a huge game against the Kings tonight which tips off shortly after the Warriors and Pelicans tip off from Chase Center.
The Pelicans are still missing Brandon Ingram, who is still rehabbing a knee injury, but is on the verge of a return just in time for the playoffs. Reports out of New Orleans is that Ingram will be back for the Pelicans game against the Lakers on Sunday.