The Golden State Warriors got demolished by the Denver Nuggets on Friday night, losing 129-104 in their first in-season tournament game of the year. They were playing without Steph Curry, which made the loss
feel somewhat inevitable, but it didn’t altogether make the performance forgivable.
Let’s speed-run some grades, because let’s be honest: I don’t want to talk about this game and you don’t want to hear about this game. So let’s get through it together, as quickly as we can. 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 Friday’s games, league-average TS was 58.4%.
Jimmy Butler III
31 minutes, 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 foul, 5-for-10 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 6-for-7 free throws, 61.2% TS, -20
Butler was far from his best, but if there’s anyone here who gets a pass, it’s him. He missed the second half of Tuesday’s game and all of Wednesday’s game with a back injury, and was questionable for this one until about an hour before tip off. Playing with a back that isn’t 100% is going to mess up anyone’s game, especially in a high-speed affair at altitude.
His overall line was actually fairly decent, but he didn’t look particularly good doing it. He just wasn’t able to carry the offense the way that the Warriors needed from him given Curry’s absence. But I’ll give him an average grade to account for what he was playing through.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.
Jonathan Kuminga
27 minutes, 6 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 3-for-10 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 30% TS, -19
If the Warriors were at full strength, this might have been on okay Kuminga performance. He did a good job crashing the glass, made some good plays on defense, and had some nice passes. With with no Curry and only half of Butler, the Warriors simply needed far more offense than Kuminga was able to provide on Friday.
He didn’t score at all in the first half, and by the time he finally got on the board with a short burst late in the third, the game was all but over. I’ll give him credit for not forcing the issue too much … most of his misses were good looks and shots at the rim, and he certainly played better defense on Aaron Gordon than he did when these teams first met. But if Kuminga wants to get that big contract he’s chasing — either from the Warriors or from someone else — he needs to be able to prove that he can be a go-to offensive force, and this was a big flop when given that opportunity.
Grade: D+
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds.
Draymond Green
26 minutes, 17 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 6-for-12 shooting, 5-for-10 threes, 70.8% TS, -10
Whether you prefer the name Treymond Green or Draymond Threen, one thing was for sure: Dray was letting it rip through the nets from deep, on a night when his teammates shot a collective 7-for-31 from deep. It was an especially funny hot shooting night for Green, as he made a triple on the team’s first possession in the first, second, and third quarters. Who knew he could lead the scoring charge like that?
The rest of the game didn’t go well for him, though. I’ve always felt like Green is one of the best players in the league to match up against Nikola Jokić, because he can play defense as well as anyone, while also running Jokić off the court a little. That did not manifest in this game. Green was unable to get anything going in transition, and struggled to do anything against Jokić, who shot a majestic 12-for-15 from the field, with nine assists against just one turnover.
A great scoring game for Green, but not much else. Call it a wash.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.
Moses Moody
19 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-9 shooting, 0-for-6 threes, 11.1% TS, -9
Yikes. After scoring 52 points in his last two games and looking like a star, Moody couldn’t hit the side of a barn and looked lost, while getting roughed up by Jamal Murray. Perhaps I should give him the same benefit that I gave Butler, as Moody was also questionable until shortly before tip-off due to a back issue. But unlike Butler, I thought Moody looked completely fine physically; had he not been on the injury report, I wouldn’t have thought anything was going on.
Still, I should grade him up for playing through that … backs are no fun at all. This would be a “D-” if he were fully healthy, just so no one gets mad at me.
Grade: C-
Brandin Podziemski
25 minutes, 7 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 3-for-10 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 35.0% TS, -15
I think it’s safe to say that when Curry isn’t playing and Podziemski, Moody, and Kuminga combine for 15 points on 7-for-29 shooting, the Warriors are almost always going to lose.
At this stage in his career, Podz is the type of player who looks really good when he’s surrounded by talent and pretty bad when he isn’t. I don’t even mean that as a negative, but it was something that was negatively on display in this game. He just couldn’t get anything going … he was trying to find offense but it wasn’t there, he was trying to set up teammates but he couldn’t, and he was trying to make plays on defense but he didn’t. There weren’t many disastrous plays, but he just looked pretty lost and helpless in this one.
Grade: D+
Buddy Hield
20 minutes, 8 points, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 3-for-7 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, 57.1% TS, -17
Playing nearly 20 minutes without a rebound or an assist is kind of impressive, though sadly not in the good way. Not the worst scoring game, but not the best either, and he got crushed on defense.
Grade: D+
Pat Spencer
23 minutes, 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 3-for-10 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 42.5% TS, -10
I don’t feel good about Spencer getting any minutes at the expense of Will Richard, but he did make the most out of some of them. Not all of them, but some of them. It really is impressive how well he understands the system, and you could see a few times in this game where he was quarterbacking far more experienced teammates. He did an impressive job playmaking and rebounding, but he just doesn’t quite have the offensive or defensive firepower to be playing this many minutes.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.
Quinten Post
20 minutes, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 fouls, 6-for-6 shooting, 2-for-2 threes, 116.7% TS, -6
It’s hard to put to words just how impressive Post’s offensive game was in Denver. Even without Curry’s gravity, he was able to be a menace scoring the basketball, and while some of it was the result of being able to get good looks that he converted (a huge skill), some of it was just making impressive shots.
He made a bail-out, off-balance jumper at the end of the first quarter, and later drained a highly-impressive no-load three as the clock was winding down. What a start to the season he’s having.
Grade: A
Trayce Jackson-Davis
19 minutes, 9 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 3 fouls, 4-for-8 shooting, 1-for-1 free throws, 53.3% TS, -9
Highly impressive minutes for TJD, who got a lot of run with Al Horford sidelined. Steve Kerr tried a double-big lineup with Jackson-Davis and Post, and it worked surprisingly well. He was so active on both ends of the court, always seeming to be around the loose balls and rebound opportunities. He had an incredible block on Jokić and provided a spark on offense. Great game.
Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds.
Will Richard
19 minutes, 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 fouls, 5-for-10 shooting, 1-for-5 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, 57.5% TS, -10
The rookie sensation continues! Richard oddly was the last sub off the bench (save for the garbage time players), but made the most of his minutes with a tremendous showing, once again raining in the points while looking like a veteran on defense and moving the ball. The kid can flat out play.
Grade: A-
Gui Santos
6 minutes, 1 point, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 foul, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 26.6% TS, 0 +/-
Santos provided energy, as he always does, even though it was only in garbage time in a blowout loss.
Grade: Incomplete
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus/minus on the team.
Gary Payton II
6 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1-for-2 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 50.0% TS, 0 +/-
Payton is fully out of the rotation at the moment, so much so that he only made it onto the court in garbage time, even in a game that Curry didn’t play. He’ll be back in the rotation at some point, surely. That’s just how it goes with GPII.
Grade: Incomplete
Post-game bonus: Tied for the worst plus/minus on the team.
Friday’s inactives: Steph Curry, Al Horford, De’Anthony Melton, Jackson Rowe, Alex Toohey
