Klay out against Utah; Otto Porter out against Utah and New York

Chiropractic? We talkin about chiropractic? We better be, because a rash of back injuries has decimated the Golden State Warriors veterans, with Otto Porter Junior joining Draymond Green, Nemanja Bjelica, and Andre Iguodala in the sore back club this week. As far as we know, no Australian chiropractors left the Warriors ove rmoney disputes this off-season, but the team is still struggling. Porter started last night, but after seeing him lumbar-ing up and down the court last night, the Warriors have decided to give him a few more days off.

Klay Thompson will also miss the game against Utah, part of the previously-planned strategy to rest him on back-to-back games. Because Klay loves the fans - and there’s not a lot of boating on the Great Salt Lake - he’s playing at home on Thursday against the Knicks, instead of in Utah Wednesday night.

Porter missed the Warriors’ three previous games with the issue, and now he’ll be out for two more. He looked somewhat hampered against Oklahoma City Monday night, taking only three shots in his 16 minutes, making one off a sweet dime from his brother in load management, Captain Klay.

The back has been a nagging issue for Porter, who has had a remarkably healthy year with the Dubs. He’s played 44 games, more than he did in the previous two seasons combined, and even after skipping the upcoming back-to-back, he’ll have only sat for 12 games. With two flights and a back-to-back ahead of him, it was barely a disc-ussion between the coaches and training staff to sit Porter, especially with a big game against the big Lakers Saturday.

And speaking of big men, Kevon Looney may miss his first game of the season tomorrow night after setting too hard of a screen against OKC.

Iguodala’s absence is no surprise after his back tightness surfaced last night, while Nemanja Bjelica remains out with his own back issues that have kept “Professor Big Shots” off the floor for the last five games. That means they’ll be missing five front court players against Utah, and it means rookie Jonathan Kuminga is their tallest player at 6’8”. Andrew Wiggins is the only other available player standing taller than 6’6”.

This should mean Moses Moody returns to the starting lineup, with Wiggins at the four and likely Jordan Poole in place of Klay. Kuminga may start at center, and there will be plenty of minutes for JTA to jump right back into the rotation. It also means a small ball game against the Utah Jazz that should play out like a Don Nelson dream. It’s worked before. Rod Higgins, set your DVR!