Well, that one will hurt for a while. Hopefully the Golden State Warriors can bounce back against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night as their Wednesday night game against the Minnesota Timberwolves stings.
The Dubs played very well for three quarters and took a 14-point lead into the fourth quarter. Playing one of the hottest teams in the league on the road, they seemed to be in control. And then their offense became more sloppy than sloppy, their defense forgot how to contain former teammate D’Angelo Russell, and the game went into overtime. There, Russell was quickly fouled, giving the Warriors a clear advantage.
They blew that lead and lost 119-114.
So now let’s rate the players. As always, the grades are based on my expectations for each player, with the “B” representing that player’s average play.
Note: True Shooting Percentage (TS) is a rating efficiency metric that takes three-and-free throws into account. Entering Wednesday’s games, the league average TS was 57.9%.
Draymond Green
39 minutes, 10 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 5 turnovers, 3 fouls, 5-for-10 shooting, 0-for-3, 50.0% TS, -6
A very strange thing happened in this game. Green and Steph Curry were not on the same page. They had a couple of plays where they were just on completely different pages, and since their relationship is usually Green over Curry, it led to a ton of Dray turnovers.
I’m willing to give him a little bit of some turnovers, because breaking them was more Curry-like than Dray’s. There were several times when Green passed the ball to a spot where he expected Curry to go, and Curry never went there.
It was strange to see.
Either way, it was a below-average game offensively for Dray, but I still thought he was one of the best players on the team. They played a pretty solid road defense that he was in front of and he rebounded like it was going out of style.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus. Led the team in rebounds.
Andrew Wiggins
35 minutes, 16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 7-for-13 shooting, 1-for-4 three-pointers, 1-for-2, 57.6 % TS, -8
Offensively, it was a step in the right direction for Wiggins, though he hasn’t had a game without scoring above league average since his stellar performance against the Houston Rockets on Dec. 3 when he suffered his hamstring injury.
Notably, Wiggins wasn’t on the field in the final minutes of regulation…at least not until the final minute. He looks healthier and more athletic, but still doesn’t make much of an impact.
Props to him for seven rebounds. He didn’t have five boards in his last 12 games.
Grade: B-
Steph Curry
43 minutes, 29 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 5 fouls, 8-for-21 shots, 5-for-12 three-pointers, 8-for-9 free throws shooting, 58.1% TS, -5
For many gamers, this will be one of the best games of the year. But for Curry, we’re pretty disappointed. He was dynamic early on, with circus shots, aggressiveness and jaw-dropping threes.
But as the game went on, he became more and more sloppy and sloppy. He miscommunicated with Green several times, made some unforgivable turns late and hit a not-so-good putt to win at the end of regulation. As the offense got going, his defense suffered as he started to catch up.
He just seemed distracted. I’ll be interested to see if Kerr holds him out for Thursday’s game or not. Some rest might do him good… but then getting back on his horse and destroying them all might too.
Class: C
Post-game bonus. Led the team in points.
Klay Thompson
40 minutes, 14 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 3-for-13 shooting, 2-for-7 three-pointers, 6-for-6 free throws, 44.8 % TS, +2
Pretty rough game from Klay, though I do want to point out how much he’s been stepping up on the glass lately. He just never had any rhythm in this game, although he did a good job getting to the free throw line.
Grade: D+
Jordan Poole
32 minutes, 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-13 shooting, 1-for-5 three-pointers, 9-for-10, 51.7 % TS, -9
Poole’s energy in this game was huge. He had some key plays of offensive aggression that really acted as a spark plug. He flew down the court for rebounds and kept possessions alive and was an aggressive passer. I thought his defense was pretty solid.
His shot selection and preparation wasn’t very good, unfortunately. But I liked the rest of his game.
Grade: B-
Post-game bonus. Tied for team lead in assists, worst plus/minus on team.
Jonathan Kuminga
15 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 4-for-8 shooting, 1-for-2 three-pointers, 1-for-2 free throws, 56.3% TS, -4
Kuminga has really had a foul problem lately…he has 29 of them in his last seven games. He brought good energy to this game, but I thought he was a little out of control. Still head and shoulders above where he was earlier in the season, but not as impactful in this game.
Grade: B-
Kevon Looney
28 minutes, 10 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 4 fouls, 4-for-5 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 85.0% TS, +12
Looney may have been relegated to the bench, but that did nothing to diminish his impact on the game. With Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns out, Looney was absolutely eaten up in this game, in every phase. And as a result, he was on the court in the finals, which was great to see.
Class: A
Post-game bonus. Led the team in plus/minus.
Anthony Lamb
7 minutes, 0 points, 1 assist, 1 foul, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 0.0% TS, 0 plus/minus
Lamb is very close to the end of his two-way contract days … but he also seems to be falling out of the rotation a bit. His minutes are really down. At some point, the Warriors will have to either deal them or incorporate other players into the rotation, as it’s still too early in the season for just a handful of players to play.
However, Lamb looked lost in his limited minutes.
Grade: C-
Donte DiVincenzo
25 minutes, 7 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 3-for-7 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 50.0% TS, -7
DDV was pretty solid, though not spectacular, at almost any stage of the game. He’s such a great player off the bench and looks amazing when the Warriors are playing well and a little inspiring when they’re not.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus. Tied for the team lead in assists.
Wednesday’s DNPs. Patrick Baldwin Jr., J. Michael Green, Moses Moody, James Wiseman
Wednesday’s inactives. Andre Iguodala, Ty Jerome, Ryan Rollins
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