Well, that was an odd game. With Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler III sidelined — and Draymond Green exiting in the second quarter — the Golden State Warriors were dead in the water against the Philadelphia
76ers. Until the fourth quarter, that is, when they came storming back and took the lead, despite once trailing by 24 points.
But it ended in heartbreak. Clinging to a one-point lead with a few seconds remaining, the Warriors were unable to inbound the ball successfully, and had it stolen. But they forced Tyrese Maxey into a very difficult shot, and had Maxey hit the rim the Warriors surely would have won. Instead, he air-balled it, and rookie V.J. Edgecombe was there for the go-ahead tip-in with 0.9 seconds remaining. Al Horford made a tremendous baseball pass on the ensuing inbounds, hitting De’Anthony Melton in stride, but Maxey miraculously covered for a buzzer-beating, game-saving chase-down block that surely brought back painful memories for all Warriors fans.
In the end, it was a whole lot of entertainment, a decent dose of heartbreak, and a 99-98 loss. So let’s grade the players who came up just short. As always, grades are based on my expectations of each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance for that player.
Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. Entering Thursday’s games, league-average TS was 58.3%.
Will Richard
20 minutes, 5 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 2-for-2 shooting, 1-for-1 threes, 125.0% TS, +10
Pretty solid game for Golden State’s standout second-round rookie. Nothing particularly notable, but just quality plays all around on both sides of the ball. He really just does everything the team asks him to do.
Grade: B+
Draymond Green
9 minutes, 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1-for-3 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 50.0% TS, -10
Green was hobbled in the second quarter and immediately took himself out of the game. He never came back, with the team eventually ruling him out with a right foot injury. According to beat reporters, he was in a walking boot when the game ended, but expressed some optimism that he won’t have to miss time. Fingers crossed. The Warriors can’t really afford to be without their defensive star.
Grade: Please be okay, Dray
Al Horford
18 minutes, 3 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1-for-8 shooting, 1-for-7 threes, 18.8% TS, +3
Horford made his return to the court, and was immediately thrown into the starting lineup opposite former MVP Joel Embiid. Hey, no one ever accused the NBA of being easy!
I thought Horford played really, really well, save for shooting the ball, where he was quite atrocious. He made an early three to get the Dubs on the board, and then missed his next/final seven shots. I’m not sure how to grade his performance since he really had a very strong game in every other area of the court … but with Curry and Butler out, the Warriors just need people to miss shots.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in assists.
Moses Moody
23 minutes, 14 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 5-for-10 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 64.3% TS, -1
A really nice offensive showing for Moody, after something of a disappearing act on Tuesday. His jumper looked perfectly in rhythm, and he did a great job getting some easier looks.
It doesn’t feel like his defense has been quite as good lately, and the Warriors really could use a better effort from him on the glass, but he does a lot of little things well, and did a great job putting points on the board in this one.
Grade: B+
Brandin Podziemski
20 minutes, 6 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2-for-8 shooting, 0-for-5 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 33.8% TS, -20
A bad Podz game. There’s really not a lot to say here. He played quite poorly.
Grade: D+
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.
De’Anthony Melton
21 minutes, 14 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 5-for-11 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, 54.9% TS, -6
He’s back! How great it was to see Melton on the court … and how satisfying it must have been for him to make his return, 13 months after tearing his ACL. Melton had a fair amount of rust … there were a few passes that were more sloppy than we expect out of him, and a few shots where it seemed clear that he hadn’t played in a game for a while.
But his control of the game was apparent. And it was certainly telling that, when the bench erased the deficit, Melton was the veteran called on to join the youngsters in their quest to steal a victory. Melton deserved to be a hero: his spectacular defense on Maxey was the reason the Sixers’ All-Star missed the potential game-winning shot so poorly that it allowed Edgecombe to grab the rebound. And, after that play, he had the wherewithal to leak out and get ahead of Philly’s defense, and likely would have had a spectacular game-winner had Maxey not made one of the best defensive plays of the season.
Melton get’s a high grade because expectations are a bit lower for a player with so much rust to work off.
Grade: A
Jonathan Kuminga
20 minutes, 9 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 4-for-12 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 0-for-2 free throws, 34.9% TS, -18
Kuminga had a few highlights in this one that reminded everyone as to what he is capable of. He had a put-back dunk that was one of the plays of the game, and of the season for the Warriors.
But his offense still is fairly rusty. He did a good job of getting decent looks, he just couldn’t convert them. And it was not a particularly good defensive game for him, while he made a few sloppy plays with the ball. He keeps showing exciting signs, but right now the overall package isn’t very good.
Grade: C-
Buddy Hield
26 minutes, 14 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 4 fouls, 6-for-12 shooting, 2-for-7 threes, 58.3% TS, -3
A super solid all-around game for Buddy. He was all over the court, showing energy early, when the rest of the team was lagging. He fought for seemingly every rebound and loose ball, and played pretty well on defense. And while it wasn’t a great offensive game for him, it was a good on. Just strong stuff all around.
Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.
Quinten Post
25 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 fouls, 4-for-8 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 62.5% TS, +4
A really strong game for Post, despite being questionable on the injury report. He played a notable role in the comeback, and it really feels like his understanding of both the offensive and defensive systems grows with every game. He’s just in the right place more and more often, making the right read more and more often, and learning how to be a difference maker on both ends of the court.
Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in assists.
Pat Spencer
24 minutes, 16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 5-for-8 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, 82.0% TS, +17
I don’t think anyone expected that Spencer would lead the Warriors in scoring twice this year, let alone that it would happen in back-to-back games. But let’s be clear: there was nothing fluky about this performance. This wasn’t a player getting weirdly hot and having an outlier of a game. This was an exclamation point and an underline on the idea that Spencer has graduated from being a back-of-the-bench token energy guy and just turned into a damn solid NBA player. It’s a shame he’s on a two-way contract, because he’s better than a whole lot of people who have guaranteed contracts in the league, and hopefully he gets to join their ranks soon.
Really can’t put to words how impressive his performance was. He played exactly half of the game (to the second), and the Warriors outscored the Sixers by 17 points when he was on the court, and were outscored by 18 points when he sat. And that feels like a fitting descriptor of how he played. He led the offense masterfully. He hit huge shots. He made defensive plays. He made sensational passes. The offense just looked significantly better when he was on the court. And he had one of my favorite moments of the season after a huge late three.
I love this guy.
Grade: A+++
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points, tied for the team lead in assists, best plus/minus on the team.
Gary Payton II
3 minutes, 0 points, 1 assist, -4
“Hard to find minutes for Gary Payton II, even with Steph Curry out, because you just can’t take Pat Spencer off the court” is, admittedly, not a sentiment I expected from this season. This team might not be good, but they do keep surprising us.
Grade: Incomplete
Seth Curry
14 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 0-for-2 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 0.0% TS, +8
Okay, so … it turns out that Seth is not going to do a perfect impression of his brother every game. But the one part of Steph’s game that Seth did borrow for this one was the ability to make things work on offense, even when he’s not scoring. The offense flowed better with Curry on the court, even though he wasn’t shooting often, and wasn’t making anything.
Given that this was just his second game of the season, and given how well the team played when he was on the court, I’m still giving him a good grade.
Grade: B+
Trayce Jackson-Davis
4 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-2 free throws, 0.0% TS, 0 +/-
TJD didn’t play in the first half, but replaced the injured Green in the starting lineup to open the second half. And unfortunately, he immediately made an impact … for the opposing crowd. The Warriors didn’t attempt a single free throw in the first half, but Jackson-Davis found himself at the line just 38 seconds into the third quarter.
The Sixers have, like many teams, a fun reward for missed free throws. In Philly (and a few other arenas) it’s “Bricken for Chicken,” and if the opposing team misses both free throws at any point in the second half, the fans get free Chick-fil-A.
Anyway, Jackson-Davis sent the Sixers fans home happy and, unfortunately, that was his biggest contribution in the game.
Grade: C
Gui Santos
12 minutes, 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 3 fouls, 2-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 50.0% TS, +15
The stats don’t really show it (save for the +/-), but Santos was absolutely awesome. He didn’t play at all until the fourth quarter, and was essentially looking at a full quarter of garbage time … until he played a huge role in assuring that it wasn’t actually garbage time. Energy, defense, decision-making … Santos did a little bit of everything. Including a highlight bucket.
This game alone won’t get him into the rotation, but it is a reminder that he can hoop.
Grade: A
Thursday’s inactives: Jimmy Butler III, Steph Curry, LJ Cryer, Alex Toohey
