For the first time in three and a half weeks, the Golden State Warriors are on a winning streak. With one of their best offensive performances of the season, the Dubs beat the Toronto Raptors 129-117 to win their second straight game and climb over .500 again.
It was an encouraging and remarkably entertaining game, and now it’s time to evaluate the performances. As always, the grades are based on my expectations for each player, with a “B” representing the average performance of a given player.
Note: True-Shooting Percentage (TS) is a measure of hit efficiency that takes three-pointers and free throws into account. At the start of Friday’s game, the league average TS was 57.9%.
Draymond Green
33 mins, 5 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 2 on 4 shooting, 0 on 1 treble, 1 on 2 free throws, 51.2% TS, +4
One of the things I was looking for in this game was Green taking care of the ball. The dubs were really terrible in their last game in the turnover department and needed Dray to set the tone at this stage of the game.
It’s safe to say that he did just that. He had seven assists, but it felt like 20, and he was a catalyst behind the Warriors with a season-high 40 assists. And only two turnovers the whole time? damn yes
It wasn’t Golden State’s best defensive performance, but he was hardly the reason for it. A very strong game.
Grade: B+
Kevin Looney
24 mins, 12 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 fouls, 6-on-7 shooting, 0-on-2 free throws, 76.1% TS, +12
Looney returned to the starting lineup and his stats were fantastic. Unfortunately, fouls were a big issue. He collected three before the first half was over and Steve Kerr trusted him to stay grounded and not pick up his fourth before halftime. He didn’t reward that confidence and therefore didn’t start the second half due to nasty problems. He fouled in the fourth quarter.
But against a huge Toronto team, Looney did a strong job of keeping the dubs alive on the glass and being an inner presence on both sides of the ball.
Grade B
Post-Game Bonus: Tied for team lead in rebounds.
Stephen Curry
39 mins, 35 points, 7 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 1 foul, 13 on 21 shooting, 4 on 8 trebles, 5 on 5 free throws, 75.4% TS, +13
A day after being named an All-Star starter for the ninth time of his career, Curry reminded the world why. Simply an absolute master class. With Nick Nurse’s defense trying to keep Curry off the three-point line, the chef was more than happy to beat Toronto in other ways. He threw the Raptors into obscurity in the first quarter, using his three-ball threat to edge the defense. He rushed to 20 points while attempting just two shots from distance.
Eventually Toronto started trying to take the edge away and then Curry stepped back reminding them why they were trying to eliminate the three.
And along the way, he dished out 11 assists, almost all of which showed how well he sees the game.
Brilliance.
Class: A
Post-Game Bonus: Led the team in points, tied the team lead in assists.
Clay Thompson
38 mins, 29 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 11 on 24 shooting, 6 on 14 trebles, 1 on 1 free throws, 59.3% TS, +6
While the Raptors worried about keeping Curry off the three-point line, the other Splash Brother kept finding ways to open up for deep shots while still getting his fair share of back cuts.
And with Andrew Wiggins missing his second straight game due to a non-covid illness, Thompson performed heavily on the glass, which helped the Dubs lose the rebound fight by just three planks despite being undersized.
Attention world: the other Splash Brother is officially back. For the past few weeks, Thompson has looked like he did before his ACL and Achilles injuries.
Grade: A-
Post-Game Bonus: Tied for team lead in rebounds.
Jordan Poole
24 mins, 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls, 4-on-8 shooting, 1-on-3 threes, 56.3% TS, -13
For a stretch early in the second quarter, the Warriors fell apart. And then Poole saved her with a series of big scoring plays.
But apart from those few minutes, he had a really bad game in pretty much every area.
Grade: C
Post-Game Bonus: Worst plus/minus in the team.
Jonathan Kuminga
23 minutes, 15 points, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 5v7 shooting, 4v6 3-pointers, 1v2 free throws, 95.2% TS, +9
Even in games like this, where six out of seven shots went over the arc, Kuminga shows his improved offensive patience. He’s aggressive, he’s smart, he’s waiting for the right game to develop… and in this case, that right game happened to be some up threes (some of which were in the corner, which is great to see) and it happens to empty them.
Going 23 minutes without a rebound is somewhat inexcusable, although he was more active on the glass than the donut would suggest.
There’s no getting around it: Kuminga has become one of the core pieces of bank rotation, and Warriors are better at it.
Grade: A-
Yes, Mychal Green
16 mins, 10 points, 6 rebounds, 1 foul, 3 on 5 shooting, 1 on 3 threes, 3 on 3 free throws, 79.1% TS, -1
Green seems to be the #1 public enemy with folks in the Golden State of Mind comments section, but I dunno… Games like this make him feel like a pretty critical part of the team!
Grade: A-
Anthony Lamb
11 mins, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1-on-4 shooting, 0-on-3 three-pointers, 25.0% TS, +6
The emergence of Kuminga definitely made Lamb’s role a lot smaller. For a while he felt like a ban to have his contract converted but a healthy Wiggins and Kuminga makes Lamb a little less important and if the Warriors can get something from Andre Iguodala or Moses Moody then we could see Lamb the season ended on a two-way contract.
Loved happening in this one, but didn’t do much else.
grade B-
Donte DiVincenzo
33 mins, 12 points, 3 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 5 on 10 shooting, 2 on 5 trebles, 60.0% TS, +24
It’s hard to believe that a large portion of the fanbase kept this signing pretty low for a while. Where would the Warriors be without DiVincenzo?
DDV has become the most trusted player off the starting line-up…even more so than Poole I would say. He’s had an assist-heavy career in that game despite only having one turnover. And yet his best moment may have been when the show showed him on the bench, with the mic connected, as he coached James Wiseman.
I don’t know how the Warriors can keep him after this year but damn… I really hope they find a way.
Rating: A+
Post-Game Bonus: Tie for the team lead in assists, leading the team in plus/minus.
Friday’s DNPs: James Wiseman
Inactive on Friday: Patrick Baldwin Jr., Andre Iguodala, Ty Jerome, Moses Moody, Ryan Rollins, Andrew Wiggins