29/03/2024

Return of Donte DiVincenzo gives Warriors another ball handler off bench

Viernes 11 de Noviembre del 2022

Return of Donte DiVincenzo gives Warriors another ball handler off bench

Donte DiVincenzo returned to the court Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers after missing about three weeks with a hamstring injury.

Donte DiVincenzo returned to the court Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers after missing about three weeks with a hamstring injury.

SAN FRANCISCO — Jordan Poole has struggled to find his footing over the two weeks, but the Warriors believe they have just the solution to snap the fourth-year guard out of his slump.

Enter Donte DiVincenzo.

DiVincenzo returned to the action Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers after missing about three weeks with a hamstring injury he suffered while contesting a shot against the Sacramento Kings. He was restricted to around 20 minutes but added a much-needed boost to the bench, which hasn’t been able to find its identity about a month into the season.

DiVincenzo isn’t a fix-all solution to the bench woes but his return should help get the secondary unit back on track, and that starts with unlocking Poole.

With DiVincenzo sidelined, Poole has played mostly at the point but has struggled to create for himself. With DiVincenzo back in the fold, the Warriors now have another ball handler who can help relieve Poole of those duties and allow the 23-year-old guard to play on and off the ball.

“We really liked the Donte and Jordan dynamic in the preseason and early in the year,” coach Steve Kerr said before Friday’s game. “I always like to have a ball-handling point guard next to Jordan.”

Poole has averaged just 14.4 points per game over the last five games before Friday’s matchup against the surging Cavaliers. He’s been shooting a shoddy 35.4% from the field and 27% from deep.

DiVincenzo’s strength as a ball handler and perimeter defender should take some pressure off Poole and allow him to play more freely.

“Because Donte can handle the ball and pass it, they really end up divvying up the point guard responsibilities. And I think Jordan’s always been more comfortable kind of playing as a combo guard, rather than having to manage the team and run the point on his own,” Kerr said. “So both of them can make plays and both can play on or off the ball and they’re both good shooters so it’s a good combination.”

Warriors back at it

The Warriors spent their rare three-day in-season break between games to shore up their defense.

Golden State entered Friday with the fourth-worst defensive rating (115.8) after being one the league’s top defensive units just a season ago. The Warriors are recording 23.9 fouls per game and sending opponents to the charity stripe 29.5 times. Both are league highs.

“We really locked in on our defensive mistakes that we’ve been making, No. 1 being fouling,” Kerr said. “So worked hard in our drill work in defending without fouling and transition defense, two areas that have really hurt us. And then tried to get better with our offensive execution… It was a very productive couple of days, so hopefully that translates.”

Rookies updates

Kerr said he’s received “good reports” from Santa Cruz Warriors coach Seth Cooper on Patrick Baldwin Jr. and Ryan Rollins.

The Warriors assigned their two rookies to the G League Sunday to allow them the opportunity to play more meaningful minutes that aren’t available for the youngsters at the NBA level.

Both are working to find their rhythm. Baldwin Jr. scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds in Wednesday’s loss before fouling out. It took the No. 28 overall pick 15 shots to score 16 points one night later.

Meanwhile, Rollins seems to be just fine after tweaking his knee in Wednesday’s game. He scored a game-high 27 points (12-of-20 shooting).

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