Warriors vs. Sixers: Can Alfonzo McKinnie re-gain his touch?

The Golden State Warriors will face the Philadelphia Sixers tonight with All-Star Klay Thompson out due to an injury, as discussed earlier today.

In his place in the starting lineup will be Alfonzo McKinnie, who will be making his second consecutive start — certainly, the Warriors (and McKinnie) will be hoping for a little more out of the second year wing, who scored just four points on 2-for-7 shooting.

Although you won’t get any hand-wringing from me over regular season losses, McKinnie’s inability to knock down threes since ... well ... November ... is noteworthy as he makes another start tonight.

McKinnie’s NBA career only consists of 66 games to this point between the Raptors last year (14) and the Warriors this year (52) and he has shot 33.7 over that span. And as Grant Liffman of Warriors Outsiders notes, he has only shot 23% from beyond the arc since early December. However, the reason why we might have (false?) hope for improvement is that McKinnie shot 15-for-31 (48%) in the 16 games he played during October and November.

Way to make a first impression, buddy!

Early on this season, McKinnie’s ability to hit the three was part of what made it so easy to move on from Patrick McCaw, who decided to bet on himself on someone else’s bench. However, McKinnie is going to have to find his touch again if he wants to solidify a spot in the seemingly unsettled playoff rotation.

So let’s see what McKinnie can do tonight!

Feel free to leave your thoughts on McKinnie’s season or the game itself in the comments below!