Healthy GP2 leaving Ferrari in garage, ready to unleash Lamborghini

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Healthy GP2 leaving Ferrari in garage, ready to unleash Lamborghini originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – He’s fast, stylish and always ready to step on the line to go against the best of the best. Gary Payton II has all the makings of a flashy red Ferrari.

This past offseason, Payton made it a goal to keep the Ferrari in the garage and let a Lamborghini be unleashed.

“He has an incredible engine, but he’s in the shop quite a bit,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Friday after practice. “He told me this year that he wanted to be a Lamborghini, because I guess they’re not in the shop as often.”

“Ferrari’s got to have too much maintenance, so I switched to a Lambo,” Payton later explained.

Between the Portland Trail Blazers and Warriors, Payton was limited to only 22 games in the 2022-23 NBA season, and he played just 44 games last season because of injuries. Payton had an injury-free offseason and played in the Warriors’ first 27 games this season.

But Payton has appeared in only two of the Warriors’ last 13 games. Payton missed the Warriors’ loss to the Indiana Pacers on Dec. 23 because of a calf issue he sustained the previous game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He returned for their Christmas Day game against the Los Angeles Lakers, only to play six and a half minutes before missing the next 10 games due to that same calf problem.

His return Thursday couldn’t have been better timing. Whenever given the opportunity, Kerr lets Payton loose to attack the other team’s top scorer. In the Warriors’ most recent game, that meant pitting Payton against Timberwolves 23-year-old superstar Anthony Edwards.

There wasn’t another player that Payton had guarded more this season. Entering the day, Payton had defended Edwards for 14 minutes and 27 seconds, to which the former No. 1 overall draft pick had scored 11 points on 5 of 10 shooting. Edwards scored 28 points in a one-point Warriors win, but Payton earned his paycheck following his direct opponent’s every move.

Only two of those 28 points came with Payton on Edwards, and both actually were at the free-throw line….

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/healthy-gp2-leaving-ferrari-garage-172427665.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2025-01-17 17:24:00

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