De'Anthony Melton returned to the court last week from an ACL tear he suffered in November 2024. Despite missing over a year, the eight-year guard has looked right at home, playing with quickness and providing the perimeter spark that the Golden State Warriors desperately needed on both offense and defense.

Following the Warriors' tough 127-120 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, De'Anthony Melton discussed how he feels about getting more and more games under his belt and shared his outlook on the Warriors' performance.

It's always difficult to return after such a major injury, even with the extensive time off and rehab that Melton underwent over the past year. He's now played three of the last four games, only missing the front end of a back-to-back against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and is feeling better as the games go on.

"I think today I felt a little bit better. Just getting out there from the jump in terms of my wind and everything like that. I mean I just got to play better at this point. I feel like I played you know whatever, but got to just do more to help my team out there."

In those three games, Melton has averaged 12 points on 42% from the field and 27% from three. Some of the shooting rust is to be expected with how much time he missed, and he still is providing superb defensive activity, averaging 1.7 steals per game.

In Tuesday night's game, Melton scored 9 points in his 20 minutes, closing the game next to Steph Curry in the backcourt.

However, the Warriors' lack of size is ultimately what spelled their doom against the trio of big men that Minnesota typically deploys, something that Melton touched upon in his press conference when asked about how the Warriors need to win with a smaller lineup.

"Effort, hustle, physicality, and discipline. I think we just got to box out more. I feel like we did a pretty good job, I mean it came down the wire. Ultimately it came down to two threes from Donte (DiVincenzo), that was big. Telling him in the game it was just ballsy shots, and he took them and he made them. If those go out, you never know what could happen."

"Sometimes we got put in (bad spots), giving them advantages and with them being so big I think them having that advantage. (Rudy) Gobert at the rim was definitely tough for us, 11-for-13 for him, we could do better."

Especially without Draymond Green and Al Horford in the lineup, Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis were the only available bigs without any forward help next to them.

As the season moves along and rotations begin to solidify with a mostly healthy Warriors team, Melton is sure to play a key role. He and the Dubs will get their chance to get back into the win column on Sunday night against the Portland Trailblazers.