Well, that wasn’t a very good game. Honestly, I didn’t think the Golden State Warriors played all that poorly against the Orlando Magic in their 121-113 loss on Tuesday night. But they got too sloppy with
the basketball, and were simply too small for a game Magic squad that dominated the paint.
We’ll run through the grades tonight, because that was a game to enjoy watching and then forget about. As always, grades are based on my expectations for 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 Tuesday’s games, league-average TS was 58.3%.
Will Richard
15 minutes, 6 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 2-for-2 shooting, 1-for-1 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 104.2% TS, -4
Richard played well, but I do wonder how much longer he’ll have a spot in the starting lineup. He’s not getting starter’s minutes, and you’ve got to think that Steve Kerr will want to get a little extra size — whether it’s with a center or with Jonathan Kuminga — to keep Draymond Green from getting beat up.
As for this game, Richard reminded. me of early-career Moses Moody — impressively mistake-free basketball, but with a hard time enforcing his will on either end of the court. He just never dues things that make you let out an exasperated sigh, but he didn’t do many things that made you take notice, either.
Grade: B
Jimmy Butler III
38 minutes, 33 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers, 10-for-16 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 13-for-15 free throws, 73.0% TS, -1
Butler was one of the few Warriors players who really matched Orlando’s physicality, and it paid dividends. He lived in the paint, getting easy looks and drawing fouls, and often pulling in enough defenders that he could kick the ball out to a shooter on the perimeter. He kept the Warriors in the game every time Steph Curry sat, and pulled the Warriors out of big deficits on multiple occasions. Tremendous game.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.
Draymond Green
31 minutes, 12 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls, 5-for-8 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 75.0% TS, +9
The Warriors outscored the Magic by nine points when Green was on the court, and were outscored by 17 points when he was off it. That feels like a pretty accurate representation of how he played. After a few days in hiding, his jump shot and general scoring ability returned, and his defense was stupendous.
Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Best plus/minus on the team.
Moses Moody
30 minutes, 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 2-for-6 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 43.6% TS, -3
Moody has kind of been fluctuating between awesome games and struggles lately, and this game was much more the latter than the former. He didn’t really have his jumper, and was having a hard time making an impression in any other facet of the game. Not his best defensive effort.
Grade: C-
Steph Curry
34 minutes, 34 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals, 5 turnovers, 2 fouls, 12-for-23 shooting, 7-for-15 threes, 3-for-5 free throws, 67.5% TS, -3
Curry had a strong game but … it is very weird seeing him miss multiple free throws in a single game! Is everything okay in the atmosphere? Is a storm coming?
Steph did a masterful job controlling the offense when Orlando was selling out to stop him. He set up teammates beautifully, and then relocated to the perfect spots. It was a masterclass, and he deserved even more than the nine assists he ended up with. He got sloppy late with the turnovers, but only out of necessity, I think. A very strong game.
Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points and assists.
Brandin Podziemski
27 minutes, 5 points, 6 rebounds, 2 fouls, 2-for-7 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 35.7% TS, -7
Podz just couldn’t find anything on offense. He wasn’t able to get separation for clean looks against such a big and athletic team, and struggled to penetrate the defense enough to set up teammates. He was a serious force on the glass, but that was pretty much the only area where he played well.
Grade: C
Gary Payton II
10 minutes, 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 fouls, 2-for-3 shooting, 66.7% TS, -15
Payton certainly was not half as bad as the plus/minus would suggest, but, like pretty much everyone in this game not named “Jimmy,” “Draymond,” or “Stephen,” he had a very difficult time putting a positive imprint on this game. He couldn’t get much going, and wasn’t able to slow down Orlando’s strong defense.
Grade: C
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.
Buddy Hield
15 minutes, 2 points, 1 turnover, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 33.3% TS, -5
A bad Buddy game. Not much else to say, really.
Grade: D+
Al Horford
27 minutes, 9 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 2-for-6 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, 58.0% TS, -11
Horford was really the only positive contribution that the Warriors got from the bench, but he played a strong game. And it was needed, too, given how much Orlando was beating up Golden State inside. He played strong defense and was able to get some stuff going at the rim, even earning his first (and second, third, and fourth) free throw attempts of the season.
He can be the focal point of a great bench; unfortunately, he wasn’t on this night, which is a knock on his fellow bench players, not him.
Grade: B+
Quinten Post
12 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1-for-4 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 25.0% TS, 0 +/-
While the Warriors got strong contributions from their veteran center off the bench, things weren’t so hot for their young center off the bench. Post struggled with Orlando’s athleticism and couldn’t contain them too much on defense, while also not getting anything going on offense.
Grade: C
Tuesday’s DNP-CDs: Trayce Jackson-Davis, Gui Santos, Pat Spencer
Tuesday’s inactives: Jonathan Kuminga, De’Anthony Melton, Jackson Rowe, Alex Toohey
