MINNEAPOLIS — Moses Moody got ruled out for the Warriors’ Saturday night matchup against the Timberwolves at the Target Center, but he’s confident he’ll be back shortly.
“It feels good, I’ll be back soon,” Moody told this news organization in the visitor’s locker room.
Moody, 22, has now missed four straight games while dealing with left knee tendinitis. He’s officially listed on the injury report with patellar tendonopathy, which is a common overuse injury affecting the tendon connecting the kneecap to the shin bone.
The Warriors also ruled star forward Draymond Green out with a left ankle injury. He popped up on the injury report late and went through warmups, but ultimately didn’t play. In his absence, the Warriors started Steph Curry, Dennis Schroder, Andrew Wiggins, Kyle Anderson and Trayce Jackson-Davis.
Moody said he isn’t concerned long-term about the injury and doesn’t have a history of knee issues. The Warriors are 0-3 in the past three games without Moody.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said that Moody scrimmaged Friday in Minnesota and was on track to play Saturday, but felt a bit sore afterward.
“It feels like the right thing to do, to keep him out so he doesn’t have a recurrence,” Kerr said.
On the season, Moody is averaging 7.4 points and 1.9 rebounds in 15.6 minutes per game. He has made four starts this season but, as has been common throughout his career, has had an inconsistent role.
The Warriors have certainly missed Moody recently, but have far bigger issues to address. They rank 28th in offensive rating this month and have lost nine of their past 11 games entering Saturday. They have allowed 287 total points in their past two games, including the fourth worst margin of defeat in franchise history.
Kerr said the Warriors need to rediscover its identity as a fast-paced, defensive-minded team. They looked the part during their 12-3 start to the season. How long does it take to recapture that?
“One game,” Kerr said. “If you’ve already had it. If you’re trying to gain an identity, that takes a while. We’ve had an identity here for a long time, we’ve always played fast, obviously a lot of success. But, new team this year, we felt like we built a really good identity in camp and followed through with a great start. So we know who we are. We know what we’re capable of. We’ve got to find the confidence again, and that can happen overnight. We need to click and have a good game, feel good about ourselves, and we’ll get back on track.”
