The Phoenix Suns will be without starting center Mark Williams for the play-in game against the Golden State Warriors on Friday at Mortgage Matchup Center.
Williams was ruled out with foot soreness.
At the time of publish, Grayson Allen and Kristaps Porzingis were still questionable with ankle soreness.
Quinten Post remains out with a foot injury, but everyone else who hasn’t already been ruled out for the season is available to play for both teams.
The winner of this game will advance to the playoffs to face the No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. The loser will be eliminated.
Williams’ Absence Exasperates Suns’ Problem
The Suns ranked 27th in defensive rebounding percentage in the regular season, and that was with Williams playing 60 games and averaging a team-high-tying 7.4 defensive rebounds per 36 minutes.
Without him, the Suns will turn to Oso Ighodaro and rookie Khaman Maluach.
Ighodaro is not as prolific on the glass as Williams, but the second-year big is a better passer, which could make the Phoenix offense more dynamic. He’s also more mobile defending on the perimeter.
Overall, the Suns have a plus-6.3 net rating with Ighodaro and a minus-6.1 net rating with Williams, per Cleaning the Glass.
Maluach averaged just 8.9 minutes in his 46 regular-season games, but he did play more down the stretch. He had 14 rebounds in a win over the Mavericks on April 8, and he followed that up with 18 points and 14 rebounds in the regular-season finale against the Thunder.
Can Warriors Take Advantage?
The Warriors are not a great rebounding team, but they did outrebound the Suns 187-166 in their four regular-season meetings.
It stands to reason that their front line of Gui Santos, Draymond Green and either Al Horford or Kristaps Porzingis will have an advantage against a Williams-less Suns frontcourt.
With that said, the Warriors have four players under 6’5″ in their eight-man playoff rotation, and anyway, it’s rarely as simple as “team with taller frontcourt gets more rebounds.”
Expect the Warriors to attack the offensive glass. If they dominate the rebounding battle, that could swing the game.
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