DALLAS -- The Warriors will be without a vital piece to their success Tuesday night at American Airlines Center in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Otto Porter Jr. officially has been ruled out with left foot soreness.
"He's still sore," Steve Kerr said Tuesday to reporters during Warriors shootaround. "We have to make the wise decision here. This gives him a couple of days to prepare for a possible Game 5, and we just don't want to take a chance in terms of harming his future availability."
Porter was seen limping, grimacing and holding his left foot a few minutes into the second quarter of the Warriors' Game 3 win over the Mavs. He continued on but eventually had to come out of the game and was ruled out the rest of the way early into the second half.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
The veteran forward did try running down the hallway Sunday night after the Warriors' win and was listed as doubtful on Monday. But it always seemed likely the Warriors would take a cautious approach with Porter.
Juan Toscano-Anderson replaced Porter in Game 3, and Kerr was happy with the energy he provided, although he did produce a minus-7 in plus/minus in five minutes of action. Will Kerr go with that same rotation now that Porter won't be available for Game 4?
"We'll see," Kerr said. "We could go a number of different directions. It will probably depend on how the game is going in terms of who we put out there."
Rookie Jonathan Kuminga certainly could be an option as well, though he hasn't played the last two games against Dallas.
Golden State Warriors
Porter averaged 10.5 points and 6.5 rebounds and was a combined plus-27 in the first two games of the conference finals. He's a combined plus-91 through 13 postseason games for the Warriors.
RELATED: Doctor outlines likely timetable for Porter's return to Dubs
He did miss Game 6 of the last round against the Memphis Grizzlies with right foot soreness, and the Warriors won that game by 14 points. A sweep would be huge for the Warriors, Porter and a handful of others as the NBA Finals doesn't begin until June 2.
The Warriors refuse to look ahead, but coming out victorious Tuesday night just became that much more important.