Well, that didn’t go so well. The Golden State Warriors ran into a brick wall on Thursday night, and no it wasn’t Giannis Antetokounmpo, who missed the game with an injury. Instead, it was the dreaded
revenge game, courtesy of Ryan Rollins, who had a career-high 32 points against the team that drafted him in the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft.
So it goes. With the 120-110 loss, the Warriors fall to 4-2 on the season, and leave me with the unfortunate task of grading the players who failed to beat an shorthanded team. 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. Last year, league-average TS was 57.6%.
Jonathan Kuminga
34 minutes, 24 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 5 turnovers, 2 fouls, 7-for-11 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 8-for-8 free throws, 82.6% TS, -1
A lot has been made this year about Kuminga’s improvements with defense, rebounding, and passing. And all of that praise is accurate and deserved. But it’s also taken away from the fact that he’s made enormous strides in the area of his game that was already a strength: scoring.
Every element of his offensive game appears dramatically improved, and you can see the Jimmy Butler III influence. He’s aggressive, but in control. He’s patient around the rim, using footwork and deception to get good looks. He’s creating contact and getting to the free throw line, but not relying on it. He’s taking jumpers only when in rhythm.
It was all on display Thursday, when he was the team’s best offensive option, while also making some tremendous passes. The turnovers are obviously less than ideal — he can’t have five of them with any regularity. That said, three of his turnovers were the kind you live with, including one that only happened because of bad call. But those turnovers, and it not being his best defensive game (though he had a highlight block) bring him down a notch, but what a sensational offensive showing.
Grade: A
Draymond Green
26 minutes, 7 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 3-for-7 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 50.0% TS, +4
Yet again, Green opened the game with a three on the team’s first possession. He’s at 10-for-23 on the year, which is awesome, and really seems to be shooting in rhythm. And for the second game in a row, he only had one turnover after being very careless early on in the year.
Steve Kerr seems hesitant to play Dray big minutes this year, which is understandable given the injuries he’s sustained in recent campaigns. It could cost the Dubs a win here or there, but hopefully will improve their chances of making a deep run. He was one of the team’s best players in this game, as he played pretty strong defense and made some nice passes. At the same time, it was pretty much what we expect from him. The bar is high!
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.
Quinten Post
10 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 0-for-2 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 0.0% TS, +3
Post had a very rough outing, just two days after arguably the best game of his young career. He got worked a bit on defense, both by Myles Turners and when protecting the paint, and couldn’t get anything going on offense. He also had one of the worst plays of the game, when he couldn’t catch a pass for an easy layup, tried to recover, and instead threw the ball away. Shake it off, Quinten.
Grade: D+
Jimmy Butler III
37 minutes, 23 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 7-for-18 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 8-for-8 free throws, 53.4% TS, -7
After a jarring site on Tuesday, when Butler didn’t attempt a free throw, he was back to his old tricks in this one, earning eight shots at the charity stripe. Yet despite getting that many — and despite making all of them — he scored with underwhelming efficiency in this one, as he just couldn’t get anything going from the field (though in fairness, some of those misses were on wild tips, as seven of his boards came on the offensive end).
As we’ve grown accustomed to, he took control late in the third quarter, this time with an incredible two-for-one sequence to give the team much-needed momentum (and a close score) entering the final frame.
But just not his best game tonight. The double-double is impressive, but the efficiency, defense, and playmaking weren’t very sharp this time around.
Grade: C+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.
Steph Curry
35 minutes, 27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers, 2 fouls, 8-for-19 shooting, 4-for-10 threes, 7-for-8 free throws, 59.9% TS, -6
Well, if you had told me that Curry, Butler, and Kuminga would combine for 24 free throws — and make 23 of them — I wouldn’t have predicted that they’d lose by 10. I also certainly wouldn’t have predicted that Curry would have the lone miss, which was his first of the season — and ended the second longest consecutive made free throws streak of his career.
Curry just didn’t have anything going in the first quarter, then he found something in the second, had a huge third, and kind of disappeared in the fourth. Too many turnovers and too long to make an impact, but overall still a fantastic game … just maybe not by his standards.
Grade: B-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.
Brandin Podziemski
25 minutes, 9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 4-for-8 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 56.3% TS, -8
It felt very fitting for Podz’s game that, within a few seconds of checking in for the first time, he drew a charge. And it felt very fitting for the way this game went that, a few seconds later, Doc Rivers won a coach’s challenge and the call was overturned. It was just that type of a game for the Dubs.
Podziemski did some good things in this game, most notably an amazing steal following a Milwaukee defensive rebound. He also had a few blunders, such as a full-court baseball pass that he overthrew by about 20 feet. He was pretty solid, though.
Grade: B-
Moses Moody
10 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 foul, 0-for-3 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 0.0% TS, -6
These last few games have proven that the minutes allocation for the guards is going to really fluctuate depending on matchups and who is playing well. Tonight, Moody didn’t play well and didn’t play much, as he had fewer minutes than rookie Will Richard, and a fraction of the minutes that Podziemski played. That did seem to be the right move though, as Moses just didn’t seem to have his legs under him in this game, and also fouled a three-point shooter (though he later made up for it by blocking a three).
Grade: C-
Buddy Hield
17 minutes, 8 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 3-for-6 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 66.7% TS, -8
Nice to see Buddy have a good game, as he had been in desperate need of one. He had one of the biggest shots for the Warriors, as he was able to get off a difficult three in the fourth quarter, when the shot clock was running down and the team had proven incapable of getting a shot off. He really helped the offense, which is why he was on the court so much in the fourth, and he didn’t make any mistakes, either. This was more like the Buddy we know and love.
Grade: B
Al Horford
20 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 1-for-6 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 25.0% TS, -20
Horford’s slow start to the year will have some worrying that he’s not a good player anymore. Don’t be one of those people. He averaged an extremely efficient 9.0 points and 6.2 rebounds last year for one of the title favorites. Even in games like this, where he struggles, you can see how well he fits. Give him more than four games to find his rhythm.
I thought he was one of the team’s best defensive players in this game, but the offense was utterly atrocious.
Grade: C-
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.
Will Richard
12 minutes, 7 points, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2-for-2 shooting, 1-for-1 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 121.5% TS, -10
What a sensational game from the rook. He played his role brilliantly on offense, locked down on defense, and had an incredible steal in the second quarter. It’s hard to know what the ceiling is for the second-round pick, but the floor is exceptionally high, and he fits everything the Warriors try to do, in every area of the game.
Grade: A
Gary Payton II
3 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 foul, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 0.0% TS, +4
It appears that Payton is falling out of the rotation, and that’s without De’Anthony Melton and Seth Curry around. These things have a way of working themselves out, though, and Payton can still play. He’ll be needed at some point.
Grade: Incomplete
Gui Santos
4 minutes, 2 points, 1 foul, 1-for-2 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 50.0% TS, +5
Just a short stint for Santos, who is on the periphery of the rotation, and seems to only come in to give the team a little bit of a spark. He’s good at that.
Grade: Incomplete
Post-game bonus: Best plus/minus on the team.
Thursday’s DNP-CDs: Trayce Jackson-Davis, Pat Spencer
Thursday’s inactives: De’Anthony Melton, Jackson Rowe, Alex Toohey
