Brandin Podziemski missed playing basketball.
The Golden State Warriors missed Podziemski, whose right abdominal strain barred him from playing from Dec. 28 until Thursday night.
“He’s just a good player and he looks really fresh and strong,” head coach Steve Kerr said Saturday. “He worked really hard during his rehab and the absence, he hated it, but he got a lot of good work in, and he looks like he’s ready to really break out.”
Podziemski returned Thursday from a 12-game absence to help the Warriors beat the Chicago Bulls with 10 points and four rebounds in 21 minutes. In Saturday’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, he had 17 points and five assists with a team-best plus-9 in 24 minutes.
As a secondary ballhandling, physical guard who doubles as an active team defender, he has injected the Warriors with activity and tempo they’ve lacked throughout their 30-game (10-20) swoon. Warriors guard Stephen Curry said after losing to the Lakers, “It’s great to have his energy, his confidence, and we’ve got to have something to show for it on a night like tonight. He played amazing.”
Podziemski had shaken his season-starting sophomore slump — he shot a woeful 10-for-54 (18.5%) from 3-point range his first 15 games — before aggravating the strain against the Phoenix Suns as he shot 40.4% (21-for-52) from beyond the arc in Golden State’s preceding 15 games. His shooting touch complemented his rebounding (4.4 per game), pace and connective passing (3.2 assists).
He first hurt his abdomen Dec. 27 when colliding with Los Angeles Clippers wing Amir Coffey at Intuit Dome. The aggravation against Phoenix at Chase Center fostered frustration for Podziemski, who hadn’t before missed more than two straight games with an injury in his basketball career.
“Never been through something like this,” Podziemski affirmed Thursday night. The injury required rigorous rehabilitation that included an adjustment to his on-court gait, he said earlier this month. “Mentally, and just the process you have to go through to come back, I’ve never done it, so everything has been brand-new to me. As a competitor, you want to be out there as much as you can.”
An All-Rookie first-team honoree last season, Podziemski said he felt “maybe 70, 75%” after playing the Bulls, against whom he sandwiched two 3-pointers around a pull-up midrange jumper and a layup in transition. He also absorbed an offensive foul, having led the NBA last season with 38 charges drawn.
“It was good to get out there for sure and get a good sweat and play with the guys again,” said Podziemski, who ranks sixth this season (13) in charges drawn.
Against the Lakers, Podziemski led fastbreaks, slithered around ball screens and spotted for jumpers off the ball — also converting 3 of 6 shots from 3-point range. Added Curry: “He always plays hard. He makes the right play. Connects certain lineups. Pushes the pace when he has the ball in transition and now it seems like he’s a lot more confident shooting the ball.”
To Curry’s point, Podziemski is shooting 42.6% from 3-point range his past 17 games — averaging 9.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.2 steals in that span.
So the good news is that the the abdominal strain didn’t break his rhythm.
“He’s been looking like Brandin,” teammate Gary Payton II said Saturday of his teammate’s quick return to the same level. “Continue to knock off the rust and getting back to what he does best.”
