Monte Poole and Grant Liffmann discuss the Warriors’ poor performance in Game 5 and what they need from Draymond Green to close out the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 6.
The Warriors won't have a key member of their rotation as they look to close out the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals on Friday night at Chase Center.
Veteran Otto Porter Jr. was ruled out by acting head coach Mike Brown less than two hours before tipoff.
Porter missed their entire second half of Game 5 on Wednesday night due to foot soreness and the injury will force him to sit out a pivotal game for the Warriors.
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Prior to the Warriors' disastrous 39-point loss on Wednesday night, Porter had been one of their most effective players off the bench. He was a plus-17 in Game 2 and a plus-30 in Game 3. In Game 4, he scored 12 points and hit four big 3-pointers as Golden State took a three-games-to-one lead. In the first half of Game 5, he played just over 12 minutes, didn't score and was a minus-eight.
Brown noted that the Warriors are confident they can make up for the loss of Porter in Game 6, mentioning that Nemanja Bjelica, Kevon Looney, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody could see an increased role to fill the void.
"We feel like we have a deep team and we've had a lot of different guys step up throughout the course of the year and fill in and fill in admirably," Brown told reporters. "So it is tough, but we've said this in the past, next man up."
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If the Warriors can end the series Friday night, they'll get a nice break before Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against either the Dallas Mavericks or Phoenix Suns next Wednesday night.