With sore backsides and a shrunken roster, the Warriors conclude their four-game road trip Friday night with two particularly difficult challenges.
There is the thin air of Salt Lake City (elevation 4,226 feet), and then there is the smothering defense of the Utah Jazz.
Pregame coverage on NBC Sports Bay Area begins at 5 o'clock, with tipoff from Vivint Smart Home Arena scheduled for 6:10.
The Warriors (3-13) are coming off their worst loss in 426 games under coach Steve Kerr, a 142-94 thrashing in Dallas. They were down to eight players after All-Star forward Draymond Green was a late scratch for that game. Green also will be on the sideline Friday night.
Utah (9-5) is bringing its typically stingy defense, holding opponents to an NBA-low 100.6 points per game. The Jazz is No. 1 in defensive rating (100.2), No. 2 in 3-point percentage defense (31.1 percent) and No. 3 in overall field-goal percentage defense (42.3).
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Warriors
Sports
F Glenn Robinson III
F Eric Paschall
C Willie Cauley-Stein
G Alec Burks
G Ky Bowman
Jazz
F Bojan Bogdanovich
F Royce O'Neale
C Rudy Gobert
G Donovan Mitchell
G Mike Conley
INJURY REPORT
Warriors: G Stephen Curry (left hand fracture), G Jacob Evans III (left adductor strain), F Draymond Green (right heel soreness), G Damion Lee (right hand non-displaced fracture), F Kevon Looney (neuropathy), G D'Angelo Russell (right thumb sprain), F Alen Smailagic and G Klay Thompson (right ACL rehab) are listed as out. Looney and Smailagic are on assignment with the G-League Santa Cruz Warriors.
Jazz: F Ed Davis (left fibula fracture) is listed as out.
ROTATION OUTLOOK
Warriors: The last thing any NBA team wants is to go into one of the high-altitude cities (Denver or Salt Lake City) with an extremely limited bench. That could result in some strange lineup combinations for the Warriors ... Bowman is coming off his strongest game of the season, with 16 points, two assists and zero turnovers in 32 minutes. He could approach 40 minutes in this game. He is up to 20 active NBA days ... Paschall played a season-high 40 minutes at Dallas, where he spent time at both forward spots. That likely will happen again, when the Warriors play Omari Spellman with either Marquese Chriss or Cauley-Stein ... Burks and Robinson played well on Tuesday at Memphis and poorly the next night in Dallas. For the Warriors to have any chance of staying close, they need to bounce back ... Tonight's available player count: Eight.
