The Golden State Warriors got their butt kicked on Friday night, losing 139-119 to the Portland Trail Blazers. There’s no need to overcomplicate things: the Warriors, who played an overtime game the night before in a different state, were clearly lacking in legs and energy relative to the Blazers, who hadn’t played in 48 hours and haven’t left home yet this year.
So let’s speed run through some grades. As Bob Fitzgerald said on the broadcast, the team isn’t going to be wasting a lot of time reviewing
this film; it wasn’t bad enough to learn from, or good enough to celebrate.
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. League average TS last year was 57.6%.
Jonathan Kuminga
28 minutes, 16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-7 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 7-for-7 free throws, 79.4% TS, -11
Kuminga’s sensational start to the season continued on Friday, as the evolution of his game was on full display. He was absolutely hunting rebounds in this game, attacking missed shots like a free safety on a deep route.
He continued looking absolutely transformed as a playmaker, with his three assists not coming close to telling the story of how he set up teammates. And I’m not sure whether to be more encouraged by the fact that he shot seven free throws, or that he made all seven of them.
And along the way, he did the things that we’ve known for a long time that he could do: score with emphasis, and even occasional violence. He had the play of the game, and one of the highlights of a loaded night of NBA games.
It wasn’t all pretty. His defense wasn’t as strong in this game as in the first two contests, and there were far too many moments of sloppiness. Yet even in those moments, you could see the vision. His turnovers came from seeing passes that he didn’t use to see, and just not quite executing; that will come. Ultimately, there were a lot of reasons the Warriors lost, and it’s hard for me to view Kuminga as one of them.
Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.
Draymond Green
21 minutes, 12 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 turnovers, 4 fouls, 4-for-7 shooting, 3-for-4 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 76.1% TS, -13
Green set the tone a bit in this one when he turned the ball over on the first two possessions of the game. In all, it was just a very sloppy game for Dray. His jump shot looks awesome, which is encouraging, but he mostly felt like a non-factor, except for the moments when he was committing turnovers.
Grade: C-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.
Quinten Post
16 minutes, 5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 2-for-4 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 62.5% TS, -3
Post drew the starting assignment, as Steve Kerr admitted that he doesn’t want to go a whole season having Green begin the game at the five. It was nice seeing the Warriors have some size early in the contest, though Post was getting worked a bit by Donovan Clingan, not just on the glass but even down the court. I can’t wait to see how Post’s game improves over the year as he learns from Al Horford, because he definitely needs some help on the defensive side of things. But there was a lot to like in this game, in his biggest stretch of playing time so far this year.
Grade: B
Jimmy Butler III
27 minutes, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 3-for-7 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 8-for-10 free throws, 61.4% TS, -10
Butler was a superstar on Tuesday, a star on Thursday, and fairly pedestrian on Friday. It seemed that maybe the load he shouldered earlier in the week caught up to him in this game, as he just didn’t quite have the ability to put the team on his shoulders when they needed a bucket. He also missed a pair of free throws, which sure isn’t going to help him in his show of self confidence when he bet on besting Steph Curry’s mark this year.
It wasn’t a bad game for Butler, but by his standards it was.
Grade: C
Steph Curry
27 minutes, 35 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers, 1 foul, 12-for-22 shooting, 7-for-14 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, 73.7% TS, -13
I’ll promise you one thing: there won’t be many times at all this year where Curry scores with this level of volume and efficiency and the Warriors get blown out. It’s just not going to happen much, especially with Butler on the team. But it happened tonight. Curry was hot in the first quarter and hot in the third quarter, and basically didn’t play in the fourth quarter as Kerr waived the white flag. He now has seven steals and foul blocks through three games, and 77 points over his last two contests.
Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.
Buddy Hield
12 minutes, 2 points, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 0-for-2 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 34.7% TS, +5
Hield was a non-factor scoring the ball, though he continues to play well within the system, and he got his teammates open looks repeatedly, which is great. He also was the only Warrior to finish with a positive plus/minus, which is good for him but awful for the team.
Grade: C+
Post-game bonus: Best plus/minus on the team.
Moses Moody
21 minutes, 7 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 1-for-6 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 4-for-6 free throws, 40.5% TS, -12
Moody returned after missing the first two games of the year with an injury, and it was great seeing him back on the court. That said, it did not go particularly well for him. He looked rusty and slower than the competition, and both of those things are very understandable. Despite not playing yesterday, his legs weren’t under him on his jumpers, and he was fairly slow moving on defense and the glass. He stayed out on the court during the blowout minutes so that he could get up to speed, and hopefully we see a better version of him on Monday.
Grade: C
Trayce Jackson-Davis
17 minutes, 6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 2-for-5 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 51.0% TS, -1
With Horford not playing (as will be the custom on back-to-backs), Jackson-Davis got his first minutes of the year. He played a bit like someone with immense talent who hasn’t been on the court much lately and hey, wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what he is.
TJD had some superb screens in this game, and showed some real rapport with Curry. He also had plenty of moments on both ends of the court where he looked like he wanted to call timeout in the middle of a play and ask where he should be.
Grade: B
Brandin Podziemski
22 minutes, 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 2-for-9 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 37.2% TS, -17
Podziemski came off the bench for the first time this year, and unfortunately it didn’t help with the struggles he’s been having. He did some good things, but was a bit of a sinkhole offensively save for a burst at the end of the third quarter. He’s just not playing the way we’ve grown accustomed to, on either side of the court. It’ll come around.
Grade: D+
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.
Will Richard
25 minutes, 7 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, 2-for-4 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 71.7% TS, -13
The rookie just continues to impress. I sure didn’t have him getting more minutes than Moody, Hield, Podziemski, or Gary Payton II on my bingo card when the season began, though admittedly some of that was that he was on the court for the lengthy garbage time.
It’s clear that Kerr trusts Richard in meaningful moments, and it’s also clear that Kerr will turn to Richard when the team is struggling and he needs a wild card to potentially boost them. He did that quite a bit in this game, though there were also a handful of moments where he reminded you that he is, indeed, playing in his first week as a professional basketball player.
Grade: B+
Pat Spencer
11 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 foul, 2-for-4 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 50.0% TS, -7
Spencer made his season debut in the first quarter, which was a sign of how desperate Kerr was to find anything in the backcourt that could work when Curry was on the bench. It wasn’t a dynamic game, but it was a solid game, and a reminder as to why the Warriors care so much about keeping him around.
Grade: B
Gary Payton II
7 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 0.0% TS, -1
Just not a very good start to the season for GPII. He remains incredibly important in certain matchups, but just hasn’t been too strong so far.
Grade: C-
Gui Santos
11 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 1-for-2 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 75.0% TS, -4
Santos was given a short burst to try to give the team a shot in the arm, and then he played out the garbage time minutes. He had a few good plays, but a lot of sloppiness.
Grade: C
Friday’s inactives: Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton, Jackson Rowe, Alex Toohey
