Warriors get good news on Porter before Game 1 vs. Mavs originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The Warriors sure could use some good news on the injury front. They appearing be getting exactly that with veteran forward Otto Porter Jr.
Porter, who was ruled out of the second half of the Warriors’ Game 5 loss last round to the Memphis Grizzlies and missed all of Game 6, was a full participant in practice for the second straight day.
“Looked good, felt good,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Tuesday to reporters.
For the second day in a row, the Warriors are listing Porter as probable one day before the Western Conference finals begin at Chase Center against the Dallas Mavericks. While he isn’t fully off the injury report quite yet, the news is positive and a bit obvious.
All signs point to Porter playing in Game 1.
He didn’t miss a beat in Monday’s practice, and that appears to have carried over into Tuesday as well.
In the five games Porter played against the Grizzlies, he averaged 6.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Porter scored 25 points off the bench combined in the Warriors’ Game 3 and Game 4 wins, while going 9-for-14 from the field and 7-for-11 from 3-point range. He was a plus-45 for the series, averaging a plus-9 in five games.
Over the seven Warriors playoff wins he has been a part of, Porter is a plus-79. That’s good for north of a plus-11 per win.
Gary Payton II remains out for the start of the conference finals with a fractured left elbow, but hasn’t been ruled out for the entire series. On Tuesday, the left-handed Payton was seen putting up right-handed layups at practice.
Andre Iguodala, who hasn’t played since Game 4 of the first round due to a neck issue, will be re-evaluated on Thursday. Until then, he’ll continue being another coach on the bench and a sounding board for his teammates.
“He’s like an assistant coach, only one who the players can rely on for real-time advice,” Kerr said of Iguodala.
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