SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Draymond Green doesn\u2019t forget. His memory is one of the many resources he can reach in and grab from his tool box. One such example highlights the ways his new Warriors teammate, Kyle Anderson, can affect games without producing highlights that spread across social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys I hated playing against, I told y\u2019all before,\u201d Green said Wednesday night. \u201cHe got a steal either last year or a couple years ago where I was throwing a pass and he reached his long-ass arm out and took the ball and I\u2019m like, \u2018Yo, how did he get the ball?’ \u201d<\/p>\n
Plenty of players have asked themselves that same question over Anderson\u2019s 11-year NBA career. In the Warriors\u2019 win Tuesday night to start a back-to-back against the New Orleans Pelicans, Green received a reminder how, but only this time he could savor the moment knowing he\u2019s now wearing the same colors as Anderson.<\/p>\n
Pelicans star and super athlete Zion Williamson tried to take Anderson off the dribble. The man\u00a0known as \u201cSlo Mo\u201d\u00a0slid and stopped a freight train square in its tracks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Yup, I\u2019m happy I don\u2019t have to face that anymore,\u2019 \u201d Green said.<\/p>\n
Anderson isn\u2019t the fastest or the most athletic. He can throw it down but isn\u2019t going to dunk in the fashion of Vince Carter, Dominique Wilkins or any of the great high-fliers. What he is going to do is use his 6-foot-9, 230-pound frame with a 7-foot-3 wingspan to his advantage in every way possible.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s representing.<\/p>\n
The veteran point-forward who can play nearly all five positions, especially defensively, now is on his fifth team after previous stops in San Antonio, Memphis and Minnesota. The influence he had on the shorthanded Warriors taking both ends of their back-to-back with the Pelicans, first a 124-106 win followed by\u00a0a 104-89 win, was exactly what they envisioned when they\u00a0acquired Anderson in the offseason.<\/p>\n
And exactly why they were sick of going against Anderson on his prior teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat he does is hard to quantify sometimes, because he\u2019s an excellent defender, he makes the game make sense with his brain,\u201d Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Wednesday night. \u201cHe sees the chessboard really well and impacts the game at a high level.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n“What he does is hard to quantify sometimes.”<\/p>\n
Steve Kerr discusses Kyle Anderson’s under-the-radar impact on the Warriors\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/XbBqbNcefu<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors)\u00a0October 31, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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, while missing all nine of his shot attempts. He made one of his two free throws, finishing with only one point.<\/p>\n
But Anderson also grabbed two rebounds, dished four assists and had five of the Warriors\u2019 15 steals.<\/p>\n
The Warriors\u2019 best lineup by 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 a plus-10, outscoring the Pelicans 24-14 in 30 possessions.<\/p>\n
Just five games into his Warriors tenure, Anderson on Wednesday night was directing traffic offensively and disrupting the Pelicans defensively. Without an injured Steph Curry and De\u2019Anthony Melton, Anderson on many occasions Wednesday was the Warriors\u2019 point guard, their second-best lineup had him with the ball in his hands setting his teammates up for success.<\/p>\n
\nSlo-Mo with the speedy bounce pass to Buddy \ud83c\udfaf\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/7SgPiTBO41<\/a><\/p>\n