Anderson shows value to Warriors, who “hated” playing against him originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Draymond Green doesn’t forget. His memory is one of the many resources he can reach and grab from his toolbox. One such example highlights the ways his new Warriors teammate, Kyle Anderson, can impact games without producing highlights that spread across social media.
“He’s one of those guys I hated playing against, I told you all before,” Green said Wednesday night. “He got a steal either last year or a couple of years ago where I threw a pass and he put his long-ass arm out and got the ball and I’m like, ‘Oh, how did he get the ball?’ “
Many players have asked themselves that same question during Anderson’s 11-year NBA career. In the Warriors’ win on Tuesday night to start a back-to-back against the New Orleans Pelicans, Green got a reminder of how, but only this time he could savor the moment knowing he was now wearing the same colors as Anderson.
Pelicans star and super athlete Zion Williamson tried to take Anderson off the dribble. the man known as “Slo Mo” skidded and stopped a freight train square in its tracks.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that anymore,'” Green said.
Anderson is not the fastest or the most athletic. He can throw it down, but won’t dribble in the fashion of Vince Carter, Dominique Wilkins or any of the great flyers. What he will do is use his 6-foot-9, 230-pound frame with a 7-foot-3 wingspan to his advantage in every way possible.
Combine that with having one of the most cerebral minds in all of basketball, and you have a winning player no matter what franchise he represents.
The veteran forward, who can play nearly all five positions, especially on defense, is now on his fifth team after previous stops in San Antonio, Memphis and Minnesota. The influence he had on the shorthanded Warriors by taking both ends of their back-to-back with the Pelicans, first a 124-106 win followed by 104-89 winit was exactly what they envisioned when they acquired Anderson in the offseason.
And exactly why they were sick of going against Anderson in his previous teams.
“What he does is hard to quantify sometimes, because he’s a great defender, he makes the game make sense with his brain,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Wednesday night. “He sees the board very well and impacts the game at a high level.”
Down by 20 points early against the Pelicans on Tuesday night, Anderson was one of the main reasons the Warriors roared back and outscored New Orleans by 35 points in the final three quarters. Anderson played 20 minutes off the bench and was a plus-9, missing all nine of his shot attempts. He made one of his two free throws, finishing with just one point.
But Anderson also grabbed two rebounds, dished out four assists and had five of the Warriors’ 15 steals.
The Warriors’ best lineup before plus-minus Tuesday night was a group of Anderson and Green as big men essentially serving as point guards flanked by shooters in Buddy Hield and Lindy Waters II, along with a downhill cutter in Jonathan Kuminga. They were plus-10, outscoring the Pelicans 24-14 in 30 possessions.
Just five games into his Warriors tenure, Anderson on Wednesday night directed traffic offensively and disrupted the Pelicans defensively. Without injured Steph Curry and De’Anthony Melton, Anderson was the Warriors’ point guard on many occasions Wednesday, their second-best lineup had him with the ball in his hands setting up his teammates for success.
In addition to that, Anderson was a perfect 4 of 4 from the field. Through his first four games as a Warrior he scored a total of 10 points on 4-of-18 shooting. Then, he matched that point total in one game, without missing a shot, and in 14 fewer attempts.
“He was really our point guard most of the night,” Green said. “Getting BP [Brandin Podziemski] off the ball, he was our point guard most of the night. He just has a level of versatility that most guys don’t have in this league and to have him on our side is absolutely incredible because he’s one of those guys you can rely on in any situation.”
Playing for Western Conference foes, the Warriors have faced Anderson 45 times over the last decade – 30 in the regular season and 15 in the playoffs. The Warriors beat Anderson and the Spurs two straight seasons in the playoffs, 2017 and 2018, as well as when he was with the Grizzlies in 2022.
Like Green, Kerr can sleep off his nightmares knowing the ultra-adaptable Anderson is with the Warriors now.
“I always hated playing against him,” Kerr said, echoing Green’s sentiments from later in the night. “He’s always been one of those guys that just seemed like when he came against us, things went south. It’s great to have him on our side.”
