SAN FRANCISCO -- For the second straight game, the Warriors will be without Otto Porter Jr. in the Western Conference finals. The veteran forward has been ruled out for Game 5 at Chase Center on Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks with left foot soreness.
He was listed as questionable throughout Wednesday and Thursday.
Porter sustained the injury early into the second quarter of the Warriors' Game 3 win on Sunday night at American Airlines Center. He tried to run on it in the hallway after the win, but was still sore the next two days, and the pain hasn't subsided enough yet.
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This is the third game that Porter has missed this postseason. He also missed Game 6 of the second round to right foot soreness.
The Warriors are 1-1 in games that he has been absent for in the playoffs, and also 1-1 in games that he has had to exit early. He's listed as day-to-day, but Steve Kerr didn't mince words with how much the Warriors will miss Porter.
"Otto's absence is a really big deal," Kerr said to reporters.
The nine-year veteran was a plus-27 combined through the first two games of the conference finals -- both wins -- and is a plus-91 combined over 13 games this postseason.
Golden State Warriors
Rookie Jonathan Kuminga, after not playing at all the previous two games, stepped in for Porter's role in the rotation in Game 4. The 19-year-old rookie stepped up and was a huge reason why Golden State's bench outscored the Mavs 32-11 in the fourth quarter, and nearly pulled off a 29-point comeback.
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Kuminga scored 17 points in 22 minutes off the bench and added eight rebounds. He was a plus-9 in the Warriors' nine-point loss.
Expect Kuminga, and perhaps a handful of others, to be called upon again with Porter stuck to street clothes on the bench as the Warriors look to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals.