Golden State Warriors home fans are expected to get a second look at new big man Kristaps Porzingis when the club opens a two-game homestand Tuesday night against the Chicago Bulls in San Francisco.
Acquired on Feb. 5 from the Atlanta Hawks for Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield, Porzingis has played just twice in Golden State’s 12 games since the trade while dealing with lingering Achilles issues and an illness.
Porzingis made his Warriors debut at home on Feb. 19 against one of his former teams, the Boston Celtics. He had 12 points and one rebound in 17 minutes in Golden State’s 121-110 defeat.
Then the illness sidelined him until Saturday at Oklahoma City, where his minutes increased to 23 and he responded with nine points, five rebounds and five assists in a 104-97 loss.
Despite the Warriors having had Sunday off, Porzingis and fellow veteran Al Horford were held out of the final game of a three-game trip at Utah on the front end of a back-to-back set. The Warriors lost 119-116 to the Jazz.
Porzingis is expected to play against the Bulls on Tuesday and would like to see his stats continue to grow.
“I still feel a little bit heavy, shots are not in good rhythm yet, but it will get better with each game,” Porzingis, 30, told reporters on the 1-2 road trip. “I believe I will be healthy now. This is what I really feel. Not to sell anything, because obviously I’ve been in and out, and out again, but this time I really feel that this is it.”
While the Warriors rested the two veterans in Utah, they saw another — Seth Curry — return to action after a 40-game absence due to sciatic pain in his lower back and pelvis. He buried a pair of 3-pointers among 13 points in 12 minutes.
With reinforcements on the way, he likely will sit out the second night of the back-to-back.
While the Warriors are returning from the road, the Bulls will continue a five-game Western swing that began with a 105-103 win against the Phoenix Suns and a 126-110 loss Sunday to the Sacramento Kings — the NBA’s worst team.
Collin Sexton has been the offensive standout of the trip for Chicago, going for 30 points against the Suns and 28 against the Kings. Josh Giddey put up his second triple-double in three games against Sacramento with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
Giddey was Chicago’s leading scorer with 18 points in a 123-91 loss when Golden State visited Chicago on Dec. 7.
One of the highest-scoring teams in the league when they topped 120 points 23 times in their 49 contests through January, the Bulls have struggled to get trade-deadline acquisitions up to speed since then and have lost 13 of their last 15 while reaching 120 points just twice.
Coach Billy Donovan wants to see that change, especially against a Warriors team playing the second night of a back-to-back and coming off a road trip that featured three tightly contested games.
“The biggest issue I think was the fact that a lot of those guys were coming from situations where they were not playing at all,” Donovan noted to reporters in Sacramento. “Like (Guerschon Yabusele) wasn’t playing, Nick (Richards) wasn’t playing, Rob (Dillingham) wasn’t playing. So I think the pace has been a little different.”
