Well, well, well. That was about as entertaining of a game as you could ask for. On Friday night, the Golden State Warriors became the first team since the NBA started tracking play-by-play data nearly 30 years ago to trail by at least 25 points, only to win by 17 or more. Steph Curry and Luka Dončić, went head-to-head all night, we were spoiled with highlights, and the Dubs won their third straight, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 112-95 to exact some revenge from opening day.
I gotta say, it’s more
fun to grade the team when they’re winning than when they’re losing! So let’s break out a little red pen, and have some fun doling out grades. 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. Last year, league-average TS was 58.1%.
Gui Santos
16 minutes, 2 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 1-for-4 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 25.0% TS, +9
Santos didn’t play on Wednesday and was questionable for this game with knee tendinitis. Ultimately, it wasn’t the best matchup for him, which is why the Warriors moved him out of the starting lineup in the second half. He still played fairly well, though, Steve Kerr just had to be conscious about what matchups to use Santos in.
Santos’ energy always is a big factor, but especially in games like this, where the Dubs had to overcome a big deficit, keep their effort level high, and get the arena into it.
Grade: B-
Yaxel Lendeborg
24 minutes, 6 points, 1 rebound, 5 turnovers, 6 fouls, 2-for-3 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 77.3% TS, -20
I think we can very confidently say that this was the worst game of Lendeborg’s very short NBA career. He was a non-factor on offense, both scoring the ball and playmaking. He was surprisingly absent on the glass. His defense wasn’t as strong as usual. And he not only committed a bunch of turnovers, but also fouled out of the game while only being on the court for half of it.
Lendeborg has set the bar so high, that this was a disappointing performance, so here’s a reminder that this was just his sixth career game, and he was playing against a team that had already seen him once this year, and was prepared for him. He said that the lesson from the game was “try not to wet the bed as bad as I did,” and I felt confident saying that he won’t. My guess is he has a monster game on Sunday.
There were some highlights, though. He had a momentum-grabbing alley-oop in the second quarter. He showed some tremendous restraint by only having four shooting possessions on a night where offense wasn’t coming naturally to him. And, after the internet had begged for it, we got to hear E-40 say his name in legendary forty fashion.
It’s just one game, kid. Shake it off.
Grade: D
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds; worst plus/minus on the team.
Draymond Green
32 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 33.3% TS, +17
Green was very candid in camp about needing to take better care of the ball, and it’s something Kerr has touched on as well. Early in the season we’ve been able to see the vision of Dray having better ball security, but it hasn’t always actually played out.
It played out in this game. Green was masterful at taking care of the ball and at setting up his teammates. He really had no poor decisions that I can remember on offense, and he had some of his best passes of the year. There will be times where he scores a lot, but for now, his restraint on that end has been impressive: through five games, he’s attempted just 16 shots.
We sometimes take Draymond’s defense for granted, so let me just say this: it was a superb defensive performance. Just incredible stuff on that end of the court.
Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.
Brandin Podziemski
33 minutes, 21 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 7-for-15 shooting, 4-for-9 threes, 3-for-5 free throws, 61.2% TS, +7
Easily Podziemski’s best game of the young season. Easily. He wasn’t good in the first quarter. He was great in the second quarter. And he was utterly exceptional in the second half.
Podz did it all in this game. He was nonstop movement, never missing an opportunity to get involved in a rebound, deflect a pass, cut, or run the court. His offense was not just good and creative, but unbelievably timely … he just always had a big shot up his sleeve, including a momentum-building three to tie the game going into halftime, and some huge shots late in the third quarter as the Dubs took the lead.
In addition to all of that, he was an absolute joy to watch. He’s so entertaining when his game is on, and it really does look like he’s taken a leap this year. The Warriors are Curry’s team, but Podz and Lendeborg really are the keys to success this year.
Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds.
Steph Curry
31 minutes, 31 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 11-for-23 shooting, 8-for-14 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, 66.1% TS, +20
I could watch that Curry performance every day and never get bored of it. Watching Curry and Dončić go bar for bar was simply as good as it gets. As the cliché goes, if you didn’t like that, then you don’t like basketball.
Curry positively took over at the biggest moments of the game. His first buckets were a pair of threes to stop the bleeding when Los Angeles was dominating the first quarter, and then, in the second half, the bulk of his buckets were erasing the deficit or building up a big lead.
I’m gonna be thinking about this play for a very, very long time:
Still got the magic. Still got all the magic.
Grade: A+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.
Georges Niang
19 minutes, 11 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 4-for-5 shooting, 3-for-3 threes, 110.0% TS, +21
The Warriors bench was special in this game, and Niang was a huge part of it. Golden State’s second unit outscored Los Angeles’ 50-7, and Niang contributed so much to both the scoring and the defending. Like Podziemski, his shots were incredibly timely; he just has a knack for making big buckets.
He also, it turns out, has a knack for talking some serious trash. I wasn’t all that familiar with that part of Niang’s game, but, for the second game in a row, he got into it with the opponent. That’s something that’s been missing from the Warriors for a while now … they’ve had toughness and instigators in the starting lineup, but not always coming off the bench. A great game for Niang.
Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds; best plus/minus on the team.
De’Anthony Melton
21 minutes, 16 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 5-for-10 shooting, 4-for-6 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 73.5% TS, +9
And this is why the Warriors are enamored with Melton. There have been a few duds along the way, but you can see the vision. When it works, it works stunningly well.
This was one of the best games that Melton has had in a Warriors jersey. He took over in the critical second quarter, when the Warriors turned a 25-point deficit into a tied game. Melton had a 7-0 run all by himself in that frame, and finished with 13 points in the quarter. But it was his defense that really stood out. Time and time again he disrupted plays, stripped the ball, or deflected a pass. And just as Podziemski’s buckets all seemed to have a sense of the moment, so too did Melton’s defensive stops. Whenever the Warriors needed to get the ball back, Melton was there to wreak havoc. Phenomenal showing.
Grade: A+
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds.
Gary Payton II
8 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 foul, 1-for-5 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 20.0% TS, 0 +/-
Payton did not have the bad shooting game that the box score suggests, as a lot of his misses weren’t true shots, but rather tip-ins when he was keeping possessions alive, and even one alley-oop that was a poor pass. Really, this game was all about defense for GPII, as is so often the case. He only played eight minutes, but he absolutely made an imprint with his defense, which was excellent.
Grade: B+
Al Horford
17 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 1-for-6 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 25.0% TS, -14
Not Horford’s best game, but he certainly had some moments. He played some really strong defense in this one, and was one of the many reasons why the Dubs held Walker Kessler in check, a week after the Lakers’ center torched them.
Grade: C+
Brandon Williams
17 minutes, 9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 2-for-8 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 5-for-5 free throws, 44.1% TS, -1
Williams has not been efficient early in the season, and I expect that to change. But even when he isn’t getting his shot to fall, there’s no denying how much the team benefits from his presence, and the way he relentlessly attacks opposing defenses. It just seems to catch the defense off guard, and spark something in his teammates. He feels like such a critical player on the Warriors right now, even though his shot isn’t falling. Also, I thought this was his best defensive game since joining the Dubs.
Grade: B-
Will Richard
13 minutes, 3 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 foul, 1-for-3 shooting, 1-for-1 threes, 50.0% TS, +20
If you want to see a masterclass in how to positively impact a game without filling up the box score, just go back and rewatch this game, and pay close attention to Richard. I don’t have words for how impactful he was. His defense was out of this world, and he was flying around the court, keeping plays alive, making things happen, and pestering the Lakers. Despite not having many stats, it stood out like a neon sign how much better the Warriors were when Richard was on the court in this game. He just made everything work seamlessly.
Grade: A
Charles Bassey
9 minutes, 6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 2-for-4 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 61.5% TS, +14
Bassey seems to be floating in and out of the rotation right now, and games like this are certainly a data point that he should be playing more. He had one of the best plays of the game, when he emphatically stuffed Kessler at the rim, which sparked a transition alley-oop. His defense was superb, and his size and toughness were essential for the second unit. It’s really fun seeing how far Bassey has come, and with Kristaps Porziņģis essentially out of the picture, it really feels like Bassey could emerge as a key rotational piece for Golden State as the year goes on.
Grade: A-
LJ Cryer
17 seconds, 0 points, 1 assist, +2
A whole 17 seconds of garbage time, but Cryer was still able to log an assist.
Grade: Incomplete
Malevy Leons
17 seconds, 0 points, +2
And a little garbage time for Leons as well, whom we haven’t seen much of this year.
Grade: Incomplete
Friday’s inactives: Jimmy Butler III, Graham Ike, Moses Moody, Kristaps Porziņģis
