Pacific Notes: Green, Curry, Porzingis, Ighodaro, Brooks, M. Williams, I. Jackson

Draymond Green says longtime Warriors teammate Stephen Curry shouldn’t try to return this season if he has “an inkling of doubt” about the condition of his right knee, “but if he’s healthy and he can play” then Curry has Green’s full support as he works toward a comeback, Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle writes in a subscriber-only story.

A report on Friday stated that Curry will be reevaluated in another week to see if the knee has progressed enough to make a return realistic. Green added that every player wants to excel in the postseason, and the 38-year-old Curry may not have many more opportunities at this stage of his career.

“You just know he wants to play,” Green said. “He wants to be out there. … But I think where you get a little worried and you know he wants to come back and he hasn’t. That’s when you start looking at the clock tick … not from a standpoint of like, ‘Yo, when’s he coming back?’ But just like — I know he’s working to get back, and if not now, then what’s going on? I think you more so get a little worried but not from a standpoint of, ‘He’s going to save the day.’ (But) from a standpoint of like, ‘Oh, man. Your brother down. What the hell is going on?’”

Curry’s absence, combined with season-ending injuries to Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody, have left the Warriors a shell of what they were earlier in the season. They’re currently 10th in the West at 36-38 and may have to win two games to advance out of the play-in tournament, but there’s still a glimmer of hope if Curry returns. In the meantime, Green has accepted the mantle of on-court leader.

“You just can’t be the guy that quits when it gets tough,” he said. “I’ve had some incredible years here. Been a part of some incredible teams. … When that stuff is happening, you want to be at the forefront of it. You want to embrace it, enjoy it, all those things. It’s great. But when it goes a little left, you can’t jump off the train. You can’t walk around and pout. You can’t throw in the towel — or what was everything you did before?”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

• Kristaps Porzingis led the way with 28 points on Friday as the Warriors defeated Washington for their first three-game winning streak in more than two months. Porzingis was 5-of-11 from three-point range, even though he’s dealing with pain in his shooting wrist, Gordon adds in a separate story. “Honestly, it’s not feeling good,” Porzingis said after practice Thursday. “I kept shooting, except it goes in anyway. Once I get it right, right, you’re going to see — there’s a difference for sure.”
• Suns big man Oso Ighodaro credits “mental will” for helping him play every game so far this season, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Ighodaro worked to build up his body during the offseason in hopes of becoming the first Phoenix player to be active for all 82 games since Mikal Bridges. “The preparation I put into my body this summer and my preparation in the weight room,” Ighodaro said. “God willing I can continue it and continue to play every game this season.”
• Dillon Brooks and Mark Williams were both able to play five-on-five Saturday for the first time since being injured, Rankin tweets. Brooks has been sidelined since February 21 with a fracture in his left hand, and Williams has been out of action since March 3 with a third metatarsal stress reaction in his left foot. “Good start. Everything is headed in the right direction,” Suns coach Jordan Ott said.
• Clippers backup center Isaiah Jackson is questionable for Sunday’s game at Milwaukee due to a sprained right ankle, according to Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link).