Golden State Warriors' David Lee to Miss Two Weeks with Elbow Infection
Following a humbling 120-90 defeat at the hand of the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night, the Warriors' biggest loss of the day came off the court. David Lee—the team's prized offseason acquisition—will miss at least two weeks, according to CBSSports.com, after an infection developed in his left elbow.
The origin of the injury came during Lee's redeeming performance in Madison Square Garden during a 122-117 Warriors' win Wednesday night. Lee came down with an offensive rebound and his elbow smacked Wilson Chandler in the mouth, causing Chandler to loose half of a tooth in Lee's elbow. Lee finished the game—to say the least —with a season-high 28 points and added 10 rebounds.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Lee awoke early Thursday morning in excruciating pain. His forearm and biceps were swelling and Lee was rushed to the emergency room a short time later.
The laceration has since become infected and now the Warriors will be without their premier offensive post presence for the next two weeks. Assuming Lee is out through November 27, the Warriors will have their hands full with matchups against potent power forwards such as the Rockets' Luis Scola, the Lakers' Lamar Odom, the Timberwolves' Kevin Love and the Grizzlies' Zach Randolph.
The offense is still in good hands with the Warriors getting strong contributions from should-be All-Star Monta Ellis, the always-improving Stephen Curry and stat-filler Dorell Wright.
But the Warriors' glaring weakness is the lack of a true post scorer. Andris Biedrins has only scored in the double-digits once this season, a 10-point effort against the Knicks. Brandan Wright has actually had the highest-scoring game of any Warriors' big men not named David Lee, when he scored 11 in an earlier loss against the Lakers. Vladimir Radmanovic has scored 31 points in nine games, failing to register a point in four of those contests.
While the Warriors' 6-3 start has them tied for fifth in the Western Conference in winning percentage—.667—they'll need to keep up the effort without General Manager Larry Riley's biggest acquisition since grabbing the reins in 2009. And with upcoming games against the Bucks, Knicks, Lakers and Nuggets, that will certainly be no small task for the former small-ballers.
