Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
It seems as if each encouraging Warriors development — if measured by progress and not victories — is weighed down by setbacks.
One step forward, then the foot gets sore.
The Warriors showed fight and defensive tenacity Friday in a 105-100 loss to the Celtics at Chase Center, a game that should leave the team encouraged, but also in pain.
The 11th loss in the Warriors’ 13-game season came with two more injury concerns for a team that might want to use a scroll, not ordinary paper, for its injury report. D’Angelo Russell and Eric Paschall — two of the most important players this season — are the latest worries.
Russell, after a bewildering 25 minutes in which he at times dominated (5-for-10, 12 points) and at more times was sloppy (nine turnovers), left the game in the third quarter with what the team termed a sprained right thumb. The Warriors said he would have an MRI and more would be known Saturday.
In his wake, Ky Bowman saw more time, contributing six points and three rebounds in 14 minutes, part of the late-game crew that nearly pulled off the upset.
“[Bowman] gave us a big left after D-Lo came out. We’ll keep playing, I’m really proud of the [team’s] effort,” Steve Kerr said after the Warriors’ sixth straight loss. “I thought guys competed like crazy out there, our defense was much better.”
Paschall was part of that swarming defense, moving to the 3 in a bigger lineup that included Draymond Green and Willie-Cauley Stein. Though he became yet another source of unease in the second half, when the training staff worked on his right hand on the bench for an extended period. He re-entered the game in the fourth and, while he shrugged off concern, he showed up for his postgame interview with the hand heavily iced.
He said the injury occurred in the second quarter, when Boston’s Enes Kanter hit his hand as he went up for a shot.
“Nothing’s broken. Just a jam,” said Paschall, who had X-rays and finished with 16 points (on 6-of-14 shooting) and eight rebounds. “Gotta ice it down, but I’ll be all right.”