The Warriors hadn’t lost a game in over a month and now they head home to face the Oklahoma City Thunder tomorrow night. The Thunder are rolling. They’re on a seven game winning streak and the Warriors will be without Andrew Bogut and David Lee.
Bogut’s knee injury turned out to a bit more serious and will miss more time than anticipated. The Warriors have decent depth, but it’s no secret that the Warriors are much better with Bogut and Lee on the floor. According to Carl Steward of the Bay Area News Group, Bob Myers hopes Lee will be able to return to the court on Monday:
#Warriors GM Bob Myers says on @957thegame that David Lee will prospectively practice Fri-Sat-Sun with the hope of playing Monday.
— Carl Steward (@stewardsfolly) December 17, 2014
This is great news for the Warriors. Lee is not known for his defense like Bogut, but he is a good rebounder and a low post scorer. The loss of Bogut hurts, but with Lee back in the line-up, the Warriors can weather the storm until the big man returns.
The Warriors are going to need to win a lot of games if they want to have home court advantage. Although the Warriors have the best record in the NBA, the Spurs are currently the seventh seed in the West with a record of 17-8. The Spurs are only 4.5 games back, so a few more losses and the Warriors could easily find themselves in the bottom half of the Western Conference.