DETROIT — Golden State Warriors center Kristaps Porzingis left Friday night’s road loss in Detroit with lower back spasms and said postgame he will “probably” miss Saturday night’s reunion game in Atlanta against a Hawks team that traded him in February.
“We’ll see,” Porzingis said. “Maybe it loosens up tomorrow. Who knows? But right now it’s pretty stiff.”
Porzingis said he first felt his back tightening up in the first quarter, but the problem worsened late in the second quarter after back-to-back plays bumping with Pistons big man Jalen Duren.
On Porzingis’ final possession of the night, he went leaping for an errant hit-ahead pass as Duren was pushing him from behind. Upon landing, Porzingis grabbed at his lower back and asked out of the game. He walked slowly to the locker room followed by trainer Drew Yoder, and the team ruled him out after halftime.
“When I was warm, I was OK,” Porzingis said. “But on that one play I felt a little spasm.”
Porzingis had generated some recent momentum, advancing past another bout of illness to play in six of the Warriors’ previous eight games, upping his minute limit to 26 and reiterating to reporters that this was the best he’d felt this season.
He scored 11, 17, 20 and 30 points in the previous four games, estimating after Wednesday night’s loss in Boston that he was 60% of his normal self and needed only a handful more games to gain a full rhythm.
But Porzingis will now presumably be sidelined in the near term as the injury issues continue to pile up for the 33-37 Warriors. They turned it over a season-high 27 times in Friday’s loss to the Pistons and have dropped seven of their past eight games.
Porzingis said he didn’t believe the back issue to be serious, saying that he’d dealt with similar trouble early in his career and knew how to keep it calm.
“I would say I’m pretty good at managing it, keeping my back strong,” Porzingis said. “Little tight now. Once I cool down, it’ll tighten up more.”
The Hawks traded Porzingis to the Warriors for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield prior to the Feb. 5 deadline. Kuminga has gone through his own health trouble since joining the Hawks, missing a handful of games including Friday night’s loss in Houston because of a bone bruise in his knee, but the expectation is that Kuminga will be on the floor against the Warriors on Saturday night.
