The Golden State Warriors got back into action on Thursday night and, well, it didn’t go great. The Dubs, who were playing without Steph Curry, spent the bulk of three quarters getting their butts handed to them by the Boston Celtics. Golden State recovered late with a furious rally in the fourth quarter, but it was too little, too late, as they lost 121-110.
Let’s grade the players who took the court for the Warriors. 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 Thursday’s games, league-average TS was 58.0%.
Draymond Green
19 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 0-for-7 shooting, 0-for-5 threes, 0.0% TS, -28
I look forward to watching Green and Porziņģis play defense together. It should be really, really fun. Unfortunately, the latter was on a minutes restriction on Thursday, and the former had a fairly atrocious performance.
Grade: D
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.
Gui Santos
32 minutes, 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 4 fouls, 6-for-14 shooting, 5-for-9 threes, 60.7% TS, +8
Santos has moved into a starting role, and I think we can firmly and confidently now say that his energy still translates when he plays a large amount of minutes. He’s still the same Gui, flying all over the court on offense and defense, and making the little plays. He doesn’t always make the best plays, but he makes the hustle plays and he just makes the team play better. Santos had a few clutch shots in this game, and kept countless plays alive. He made good things happen.
Grade: A
De’Anthony Melton
25 minutes, 18 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 7-for-13 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 2-for-4 free throws, 61.0% TS, -3
The worst thing about Melton’s game these days is that he just might be playing his way out of the Warriors price range. That’s a problem for another day. For now, it’s hard to imagine the Dubs being at all competitive with Curry sidelined if they didn’t have Melton. He’s playing so well.
Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.
Moses Moody
23 minutes, 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 4-for-9 shooting, 3-for-7 threes, 0-for-2 free throws, 55.7% TS, -27
Moody started this game very well. He made a three on the first possession of the game, and played strong defense on Jaylen Brown in the opening minutes. From there, though, things went downhill. He couldn’t stay in front of Brown for the rest of the game, and really didn’t provide anything on the glass — he only had three rebounds, one of which came when he grabbed his own missed layup. He couldn’t create any offense, either. I kind of wonder if there’s a small ailment he’s working through, because he just looks sluggish and unathletic right now.
Grade: C
Pat Spencer
27 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 2-for-7 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 35.7% TS, -4
There were times in the game where the ball moved beautifully for Golden State, and Spencer was right in the middle of that. His offense helped keep them in the contest in the first half, though his defense really hurt them in the second half.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.
Al Horford
28 minutes, 5 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 2-for-10 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, 25.0% TS, +1
Despite coming off the bench, Horford was second on the team in minutes. And while he really struggled to score, he did everything else really, really well. The Warriors got absolutely obliterated on the glass and in the paint, but Horford was the one player who was fighting against that. He had his elbows out all game, and protected the rim while gobbling up rebounds. His screens and passing were very strong.
Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.
Kristaps Porziņģis
17 minutes, 12 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 5-for-9 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 66.7% TS, -4
Porziņģis made his Warriors debut at the start of the second quarter, and it went quite poorly. The Dubs got crushed in his minutes, which wasn’t his fault, but he wasn’t exactly playing well. But when he returned later in the quarter, it seemed that the nerves and rust had been removed, and suddenly things were starting to click. He had a few really nice plays in this game, including impressive hands to catch a speedy pass, gather himself, and dunk in traffic; a shot-clock beating contested three; and a blocked shot. And he spent a lot of time sharing the court with Horford, in a two-big lineup that we’ll likely see a bit of over the rest of the season.
It wasn’t all pretty. He looked a step slow, which was understandable given that he’d been sidelined for over a month. He rarely seemed to venture inside the arc on defense, which may have been partially a schematic decision, but certainly stood out. He had a pair of turnovers.
Those are usual bumps and bruises. Overall, the expectations were low given how long he’d been out, and the fact that he was in a new system, and he exceeded those expectations.
Grade: A
Gary Payton II
18 minutes, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 6-for-8 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 87.5% TS, +15
Payton was one of the biggest — perhaps the biggest reason why the Warriors made such a strong attempt at a second-half comeback. His defense was all over the place, forcing multiple turnovers, even if he was only credited with one steal. His offense was electric, both getting out in transition for buckets that brought life to the arena, and draining threes to make the deficit manageable. Just a fantastic game for GPII.
Grade: A+
Post-game bonus: Best plus/minus on the team.
Brandin Podziemski
27 minutes, 11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 5-for-8 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 68.8% TS, 0 +/-
Green did not have his usual stat line, so Podziemski had it for him, instead. An exceptionally well-balanced game for Podz which, critically, didn’t include a turnover or a foul. It wasn’t his best defensive performance, but that’s picking nits in a really great game. Good to see him play so well.
Grade: A
Will Richard
24 minutes, 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 fouls, 6-for-11 shooting, 3-for-7 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 71.5% TS, -13
Richard had a huge sequence in the first quarter. After Boston had pushed the lead to 10 points, Richard drained threes on both ends of the two-for-one to end the frame, getting the Dubs right back into it. The team couldn’t maintain that performance, but Richard did. He was one of their biggest offensive weapons, and his defense was swarming. I’m looking forward to seeing how he finishes out his highly successful rookie campaign.
Grade: A
Thursday’s DNP-CDs: Malevy Leons, Quinten Post, Nate Williams
Thursday’s inactives: Jimmy Butler III, LJ Cryer, Seth Curry, Steph Curry
