The Golden State Warriors will wrap up an emotional four-game road trip when they face the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.
An excursion that began without injured Jimmy Butler III and with a Klay Thompson reunion in Dallas got complicated when the Warriors were in Minneapolis on Saturday morning when 37-year-old Alex Pretti, a resident of the city, was shot and killed by federal agents.
The Warriors were scheduled to play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday afternoon, but the game was postponed due to safety concerns in the city following the shooting, which came amid protests during a federal immigration crackdown.
After the one-day postponement of the game, which resulted in a reserves-filled second game of a back-to-back set between Golden State and Minnesota on Monday, the Warriors will venture to Utah attempting to salvage a break-even trip as they deal with life without Butler, who is out for the season after suffering an ACL tear in his right knee on Jan. 19 vs. the Miami Heat.
The Warriors played Monday not only minus Butler, but also without Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Al Horford and De’Anthony Melton in a 108-83 blowout loss to the Timberwolves.
On Sunday, Curry had 26 points while Green, Horford and Melton combined for 24 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, four steals and a block when Golden State won 111-85.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he expects all but Butler to be back in uniform against the Jazz but wonders if the emotional toll of the week might outweigh rested, healthy players at the end of the trip.
“To see literally up close the people in the streets. The tragedy. Knowing it was right down the street from us. It was almost surreal,” Kerr said of the team’s time in Minneapolis. “It was really a bizarre few days.”
The Warriors and Jazz have lit up the scoreboard in two earlier meetings this season in San Francisco. Curry had 31 points in both contests when Warriors claimed 134-117 and 123-114 wins in November and earlier this month, respectively.
Also without Jonathan Kuminga, who suffered a bruised left knee in the trip opener Thursday at Dallas, the Warriors — who lost to the Mavericks and longtime former Warriors guard Thompson in that game — figure to take the floor in better physical shape than the Jazz.
While Golden State was getting a much-needed day off Tuesday, the Jazz had to endure the first night of a back-to-back and fell 115-103 to the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.
Despite having lost six of their previous seven games and getting a rare national-television appearance, the Jazz elected to rest star guard Keyonte George against the Clippers. George had played 13 straight games, going 32 or more minutes 11 times and scoring 20 or more points on six occasions.
George, who had 28 and 22 points in the earlier losses to Golden State, is expected back Wednesday. But co-star Lauri Markkanen could be a candidate for rest after returning from a seven-game absence due to an illness to put in 29 minutes against the Clippers.
Center Jusuf Nurkic couldn’t go Tuesday while dealing with an illness.
If nothing else, Tuesday’s thrashing gives the Jazz another chance to demonstrate the resiliency that’s produced several ups after the numerous downs this season.
“Both of the extremes are important,” Jazz coach Will Hardy told reporters this week. “The positive ones give us hope: ‘Wow, we are capable of playing really good basketball, and some of these guys, they are getting better.’ It’s just the consistency of that that needs to improve. And the negative extreme keeps us humble that we haven’t done anything yet and we have a long way to go.”
