Draymond Green, Klay Thompson ruled out vs. Blazers

The Golden State Warriors are getting ready to face the Portland Trail Blazers in a very important Thursday night game. To an extent, the Warriors control their own fate right now — if they win out, they’ll jump at least the Los Angeles Lakers in the standings. So needless to say, a victory in their final road game of the regular season is very important.

But it won’t be easy, as the Warriors are down a pair of starters. In between Tuesday’s win and Thursday afternoon, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson both popped up on the injury report as questionable — the former with a right knee contusion, and the latter with right knee tendonitis. And a few hours before the game, the news went from bad to worse, with the Warriors announcing that both players would be out for the game.

It’s unclear how much the schedule is playing into the injury status. Thursday’s game is the front half of a back-to-back, as the Dubs host the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. The Pelicans, who are 47-32 and fighting desperately to stay out of the Play-In Tournament, are a much harder opponent than the Blazers, who are 21-58 and have turned their attention to the offseason. Even if Green and Thompson could play, it’s possible that Steve Kerr would bank on being able to beat Portland while short-handed, and make sure that he has a full squad for the tougher game. After all, he did something similar over the weekend when he gave Steph Curry a day of rest against the Utah Jazz.

A road win without their best defensive player and second-best scorer won’t be easy for the Warriors, but if it’s any consolation, Portland has an even more extensive list of names on their injury report.