Wiggins out, Waters started in the second Warriors-Pelicans game and originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Warriors wing Andrew Wiggins will miss a second straight game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night due to a lower back strain.
Wiggins warmed up on the Warriors’ practice court prior to tipoff but was deemed ineligible to go. After the Warriors’ win Tuesday night against the Pelicans, coach Steve Kerr called Wiggins doubtful to play the second night of their back-to-back and that he had a chance to play. He was listed as questionable on the injury report all of Wednesday, but the Warriors will come up short again.
They are also without Steph Curry (left foot/ankle) and De’Anthony Melton (back). Both Curry and Melton will be reevaluated on Friday ahead of the Warriors’ five-game road trip.
In the game, Wiggins was injured, a 112–104 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. He had his best offensive performance of the young season. Wiggins scored 29 points in the loss, and 11 in the fourth quarter. He was 11 of 15 from the field and went 5 of 8 on three-point attempts.
Through his first three games of the season, Wiggins averaged 19.7 points per game on 55 percent shooting and 57.9 percent (11 of 19) from three. Last season he scored 29 or more points only twice. Wiggins also grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in the second game of the season.
Without Curry, Wiggins and Melton, Kerr started Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield, Moses Moody, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis in Tuesday night’s win over the Pelicans. But to start the second half, Kerr replaced Hield with Lindy Waters III, which turned out to be the perfect move.
Hield scored 25 of his 28 points in the second half while shooting a perfect 6-of-6 on 3-pointers, and Waters was a plus-21 with 12 points.
The same group that started the second half Tuesday night will be the same starter against the Pelicans on Wednesday, with Waters moving into the backcourt with Podziemski and Moody moving to small forward.
“He’s a very patient player,” Kerr said of Waters in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday. “He’s such a threat as a shooter that he causes a reaction from the defense, but he’s very smart. He just moves that ball quickly and that generates an advantage and the dominoes start to fall and that’s when the ball movement starts to happen.
“Last night was by far our highest shot count of the season and Lindy played a big part in that because of the simplicity of his game. On the other hand, he is always in the fight, always in the mix. He is a good rebounder and has good size. He’s a great player.”
Waters has 108 career NBA games and has started just once. That came during his first NBA season as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 9, 2022, where he scored eight points in a 30-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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