The Golden State Steph Currys Warriors pulled it off on Friday, besting the San Antonio Spurs 109-108 in an utterly thrilling basketball game. It gave the Dubs a sweep of the road baseball series, and
pushed their record up to 8-6 … and 1-1 in NBA Cup play.
It was mighty impressive, and extremely fun. So let’s grade the players who got it done. I’ll make these ones super quick, because it’s Friday night and Steph Curry just lit the world on fire. You want to go out and drink a cold one while talking with your friends about how Steph Curry just lit the world on fire. And I don’t want to get in the way of that.
As always, grades are based on my expectations of each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance of 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 58.3%.
Will Richard
16 minutes, 10 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 1 block, 4 fouls, 4-for-7 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 71.4% TS, 0 plus/minus
It’s clear that — for now, at least — Richard is going to occupy that funny spot where he’s starting every game but rarely closing them, and that makes sense. He’s not yet one of the team’s best or most trustworthy players, but his flow, cutting, spacing, and defensive energy help the team get off to good starts.
He was brilliant in the first quarter of this game, at one point using his body and the rim to shield himself from Victor Wembanyama for a layup, and later drawing a charge on Wemby. Three stocks in just 16 minutes!
Grade: A-
Jimmy Butler III
35 minutes, 21 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 7-for-14 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 7-for-8 free throws, 59.9% TS, -3
A pretty standard Jimmy game, and I say that as a compliment. He played strong defense, he made smart plays, he deferred to Curry when he should, and he took over the offensive burden when he needed to.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds.
Draymond Green
33 minutes, 6 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks, 4 turnovers, 5 fouls, 3-for-12 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 25.0% TS, -8
If there’s one thing we learned from this series — other than that Curry is inevitable and borderline invincible — it’s that Green is one of the best defenders in the world to put on Wembanyama.
He didn’t play Wemby quite as well in this game as on Wednesday, which is understandable given that the youngster had some time and film for adjustments. But Green still did a phenomenal job on that end of the court.
On the other end? Not so hot. He made great passes and directed the offense, but once again couldn’t shoot and kept turning the ball over.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists, tied for the team lead in rebounds, worst plus/minus on the team.
Moses Moody
30 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 2-for-8 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 25.0% TS, -2
Not a very good Moody game. After playing phenomenal defense on De’Aaron Fox on Wednesday, Moody struggled to stay in front of the All-Star point guard in this contest, and often lost him on the court, or failed to catch up to him in transition. He didn’t really do anything else on the court, either.
Grade: C-
Steph Curry
36 minutes, 49 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 16-for-26 shooting, 9-for-17 threes, 8-for-8 free throws, 83.0% TS, +9
I know I’ve written this about Curry many times, but I’ll write it about him again: you should take single-game plus/minus stats with a gigantic grain of salt, but occasionally they perfectly tell the story, and that seems to happen a lot with Curry. The Warriors outscored the Spurs by nine points in Curry’s 36 minutes; they were outscored by eight points in the 12 minutes that he sat.
He was brilliant. I don’t even want to write about it. If you didn’t watch the game, go back and watch it. Words can do him justice. Just watch the dude play.
Grade: A+++
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points, best plus/minus on the team.
Gary Payton II
16 minutes, 6 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 2-for-7 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 42.9% TS, +3
Payton had a rough start to the game. He had two errant passes early in his first stint, and was struggling with his shot.
And I don’t care. Sometimes what you do in the heat of the biggest moment supersedes and everything else you do, and that was the case with Payton. He had arguably the two biggest shots of the game for the Dubs, late in the fourth: a contested, buzzer-beating three when the team was down eight and the game was slipping away; and a go-ahead three a few possessions later. And then he played elite defense down the stretch, including on Fox as the potential game-winning shot was missed.
Grade: A+
Al Horford
24 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 1 foul, 0-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 0.0% TS, +6
I love when Horford is draining threes, but he can keep missing them for all I care. If he gets four stocks in 24 minutes, that’s enough to make me happy. Just a stellar defensive effort from Horford.
Grade: B+
Brandin Podziemski
30 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 foul, 3-for-8 shooting, 3-for-6 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 56.3% TS, +4
A great Podz game, in which he did everything the team wants him to do. He made clutch shots, extra hustle plays, and nice passes. He took care of the ball, drew charges, and annoyed the opponent. Just exactly the way they want him playing, and he was awesome.
Grade: A-
Buddy Hield
14 minutes, 0 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 0-for-1 shooting, 0.0% TS, -1
Not a very impactful Hield game, though I thought he brought good energy and played good defense.
Grade: C+
Quinten Post
7 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1-for-3 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 50.0% TS, -3
Post made two highlight plays in this one: a tremendous block, and a spectacular Curry impression where he got the ball from Green as Dray set a pick, jumped into the corner, and drained a three. It was awesome.
Grade: B+
Friday’s DNP-CDs: Trayce Jackson-Davis, Gui Santos, Pat Spencer
Friday’s inactives: Jonathan Kuminga, De’Anthony Melton, Jackson Rowe, Alex Toohey
