In the absence of Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Al Horford, Kristaps Porzings and Seth Curry, De’Anthony Melton stepped into a primary scoring role for the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night. He ended the game with 21 shot attempts, making 8 of them and drawing 11 shots at the free-throw line. Overall, Melton finished the Warriors’ 113-109 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans with 28 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, shooting 38.1% from the field.
Melton returned to Steve Kerr’s rotation on Dec. 4, following a year-long rehab from a torn ACL. As such, it was encouraging to see him shoulder such a significant load within the offense. When speaking to the media after the game, Melton discussed whether he will be cleared to face the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, Feb. 25, on the second night of Golden State’s back-to-back.
“I feel good. I feel solid,” Melton said. “Taking it day by day, see how tomorrow holds up. See how my body holds up and just keep checking along. Most definitely. There were conversations about this one (back-to-back), but we kind of err on the side of the minute increase and seeing how that felt on me. Definitely can’t wait to finally get out there just to compete with my guys on both days.”
It’s unlikely that Golden State will get any of its veteran talent back on the court on Wednesday. Therefore, Kerr will need others in the rotation to step up, just like Melton did on Tuesday, and Al Horford did on Sunday. Right now, the Warriors are treading water as they wait for the squad to get closer to full strength.
After all, the team is still within touching distance of the Los Angeles Lakers, who currently sit sixth in the Western Conference, 4.5 games ahead of Golden State.
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This article originally appeared on Warriors Wire: Warriors’ De’Anthony Melton remains coy on playing back-to-back
Reporting by Adam Taylor, Warriors Wire / Warriors Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
