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| Monta Ellis at the Golden State Warriors' open practice. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
It made perfect sense there were so many high wires incorporated into the Golden State Warriors home opener Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Bay Bridge replicas that were used during player introductions were lowered by them. The athletic men and women in the Cirque du Soleil style halftime act hung for their entertaining lives from them. The season of one of the Western Conference’s most intriguing teams, quite clearly, is going to be a high-wire act of its own.
As if it’s not enough that a key piece of their promising core, four-year, $44 million man Stephen Curry, has spaghetti ankles that have compromised the early part of his career. Or that one of the team’s most valuable rotation players, veteran Brandon Rush, went down with a left knee injury in the first quarter after colliding with Zach Randolph that — while not yet diagnosed — left the Warriors small forward in tears and led to the Grizzlies forward following him into the opponent’s locker room during a brief break in play to check on his well-being.
All of that, and then there’s this: The Warriors’ main attraction — the center who is nothing short of their centerpiece, Andrew Bogut — is off to a torturous start.
It’s not about his play at this point; Bogut’s left ankle surgery in late April has proven more problematic than he or the Warriors initially thought. So here they are in early November, with Bogut — who was traded by the Milwaukee Bucks with Stephen Jackson for Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown in late March — limited to 20 minutes a game per doctor’s orders. The plan is to keep it that way until December at the earliest. The playoff race will not wait.
Bogut played 18 minutes in a season-opening win Wednesday at the Phoenix Suns, posting eight points and six rebounds. He logged 18 minutes again in the 104-94 loss to the Grizzlies, adding four points and three rebounds. The frustration seems to be there all the time these days.
