Warriors vs. Nyets: Two teams that like to run

Only 18 games remain in the regular season, and the Golden State Warriors are hoping to finish strong, maybe even perfect - if they can manage it.

Up tonight: the lowly Brooklyn Nyets, a team woefully mismanaged since new owner Mikhail Prokhorov bought the team in 2010.

After nearly a decade of floundering, the team was showing some signs of life before ex-Warrior Jeremy Lin went down with a season-ending knee injury. But this team likes to run, can force turnovers, and... ok, that’s really all I got. The Warriors should blow these guys out of the water tonight...The Nets rank 25th in offensive efficiency, and 23rd in defensive rating.

Final injury updates

Good news first: Rookie Jordan Bell was experiencing some lower back tightness after playing for the Santa Cruz G-League team over the weekend, but he will be available tonight.

In matchups so far this season, Kerr has favored Bell against faster, more athletic centers. While the Nets don’t necessarily have anyone who is any sort of athletic threat at center, they do run a lot (6th fastest pace in the NBA), so I’d expect either Kevon Looney or Jordan Bell to see plenty of action tonight.

Unfortunately, David West will be out tonight with a right arm cyst.

Second-year wing Patrick McCaw is still out with a fractured wrist. Though it is encouraging to note that his hard cast is off now, he’s still quite a ways from being back into game-ready form.

Last but not least: Stephen Curry. Curry, who rolled his ankle at a pretty bad-looking angle in Friday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks seems fine now. He was out shooting and warming up earlier, and seemed to be moving without any sort of hesitation. Still, given the high importance he has on this team, fans will be nervously watching Curry.

Around the league tonight - it’s gonna get crazy

TNT has a double header that bears watching. First up, the Houston Rockets and OKC Thunder face off as an appetizer to the Warriors game. Tip off is at 5, so you can treat this one as your Mozzarella sticks before the Warriors game meal is served at 7:30 — we got a whole thread for that up.

Also, the late game isn’t bad either. TNT will feature a pair of interesting teams that probably aren’t that good, but can be scary. I don’t generally advocate watching a Clippers vs. Pelicans game, but with the playoff bracket as crazy as it is now, tensions will be running high.