Andre Iguodala will miss his second straight NBA Finals game on Sunday night, but the Golden State Warriors are still optimistic the former Finals MVP can return to the floor before the series is over.
With a Warriors sweep not out of the question, this seems like a sign that Iguodala is closer to returning than it sounds right now. But Kerr and the Warriors seem frustrated by the nature of his knee injury and how slow it’s been to recover. What was originally diagnosed as knee soreness has apparently not let up and the result has been Iguodala missing six straight games, dating back to the Rockets series.
Still, Kerr told the media on Sunday before Game 2 that he’s “optimistic” Iguodala will return to the starting lineup, though he doesn’t have any real idea when that will be happening.
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Iguodala is the one Warrior in its Death Lineup/Hamptons 5 that didn’t make the All-Star game this season, but that distinction really means little. He’s a huge part of what makes the team so successful, particularly on defense, and his absence has exposed an underbelly of bench depth on the wing that perhaps isn’t as deep as Golden State would like at this point in the season.
Golden State might be the best team we’ve ever seen, but any team missing a big piece to its rotation can struggle. We saw in Game 1 how a transcendent performance from LeBron James was almost enough to beat the Warriors, and until Iguodala returns, they’ll always be susceptible to games like that. Especially if Klay Thompson remains banged up moving forward.
