Player grades: Warriors vs. Magic

Assessing every Golden State player’s performance in the team’s 101-93 win over Orlando.

The Golden State Warriors had a fabulous time in Florida. A day after blowing out the Miami Heat, the Warriors had one of their best performances of the season, notching a 101-93 win over the Orlando Magic, despite missing their starting front court — one player to injury, and one player to an ejection.

It was a win to build on, and it was a win to grade. As always, my 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 Wednesday’s games, league-average TS was 58.0%.

Draymond Green

4 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 0.0% TS, -2

For the first time since returning from his suspension, Green was ejected. It wasn’t violent or even particularly egregious. But he only made it a few minutes into the game before getting upset enough at a call that he got T’d up. And even as teammates tried to calm him down, he kept talking and talking until he was finally given his second T.

I’ll let Steph Curry take it from here:

I’ve never hid the fact that I love Draymond Green. And I stand by the fact that he is the team’s second-best — and second-most important — player. And I’ve been so happy seeing how much calmer and happier he seems post-suspension.

But he simply cannot do this. He let the team down in a big way on Wednesday. And the fact that they responded with a massive run doesn’t change that.

Grade: F

Trayce Jackson-Davis

33 minutes, 8 points, 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 0 turnovers, 1 foul, 4-for-8 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 50.0% TS, +5

If you didn’t watch the game and are wondering why TJD shot a three-pointer, it was because the buzzer was about to sound and he was throwing up a hail mary.

Jackson-Davis returned from the injury sidelines and stepped right into the starting lineup in place of the injured Jonathan Kuminga. And the fact that he did that, as a rookie, and managed to play 33 minutes without a turnover and with just one foul says quite a lot.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.

Andrew Wiggins

35 minutes, 23 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 8-for-17 shooting, 3-for-6 threes, 4-for-5 free throws, 59.9% TS, +12

The Warriors do not win this game without Wiggins having the fourth quarter that he had. End of story. The Magic saved their best punch for the final frame, and Wiggins danced around it with 13 points, amazing defense, and ferocious rebounding.

Prior to the fourth quarter it was a so-so game for Wiggins statistically, but he was playing with aggression and urgency and the team is transformed when he does that. If you have any doubt as to how important his performance was, just look at how other people on the team reacted to it.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.

Steph Curry

35 minutes, 17 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 6-for-18 shooting, 3-for-8 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 45.0% TS, +18

It definitely wasn’t Curry’s smoothest game, and you cold see how much frustration had built up when he kicked a few chairs — in frustration-releasing celebration — following his dagger three and signature celebration. But he sure showed up when it counted, and did a wonderful job setting up his teammates.

Orlando sold out to get the ball out of Curry’s hands all night long, and Curry was hindered by not having his go-to release valve in Green. But he still made the most of the situation.

Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists, best plus/minus on the team.

Klay Thompson

32 minutes, 15 points, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 6-for-13 shooting, 3-for-8 threes, 57.7% TS, +5

A perfectly fine, if not particularly memorable game from Thompson. He seems to be at the point where he’s quite comfortable starting or coming off the bench, and his shot selection is greatly improved over what it was early in the season.

Grade: B

Kevon Looney

15 minutes, 4 points, 7 rebounds, 1 block, 2 fouls, 2-for-2 shooting, 100.0% TS, +3

For the second night in a row, Looney was pressed into action, this time because of Green’s ejection. And my goodness did he quickly remind us that he’s still a very talented and hard-working basketball player.

Looney’s lack of minutes say more about the state of the roster than about his abilities. Games like this keep us from taking him for granted; I doubt the Dubs win the game if Looney doesn’t step in.

Grade: A-

Gui Santos

6 minutes, 3 points, 1 foul, 1-for-2 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 75.0% TS, -16

It was fun seeing Santos get some real minutes. Don’t let the massively-negative plus/minus fool you though, that was mostly just because he was on the court at the wrong time. That said, it did feel like the game was moving a little too quickly for him at times.

Grade: C
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.

Chris Paul

17 minutes, 3 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 turnover, 1-for-5 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 25.5% TS, -6

Not the sharpest that CP3 has been, and that’s been the case for a few games lately. But even Paul not at his sharpest is one hell of a bench weapon to have.

Grade: C

Gary Payton II

19 minutes, 10 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 5-for-5 shooting, 100.0% TS, +4

GPII’s second quarter was was one of the great “doing everything” displays that I’ve seen in a while. He simply did … well … everything. It’s amazing how he can go stretches simply enforcing his will in all areas of the game. He had three steals and one block in just 19 minutes, and those numbers don’t do justice to how much he disrupted the game … nor do the 10 points accurately display how much offense he provided.

Grade: A+

Moses Moody

24 minutes, 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 4-for-9 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, 55.8% TS, +7

Looney got a lot of minutes because of Green’s ejection, but Moody also absorbed a bunch of the available playing time. And he sure made the most of them. Moses has been playing with outstanding urgency lately, and that really showed up on defense and rebounding in this one. Sure, he got a little over-excited and committed a bit of fouls, but you’ll happily live with that. He was busting his butt out there, and made a whole bunch of good things happen.

Grade: A-

Brandin Podziemski

21 minutes, 6 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 3-for-10 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 30.0% TS, +10

Brandin Podziemski is one of the best rebounding guards I have seen in my life. And it was crucial in a game like this, where Golden State out-rebounded a larger and more athletic team 52-39.

Still a little bit of a rookie wall with offense, but Podz is putting on a show on the glass, while also hustling like all heck on defense.

Grade: B+

Wednesday’s DNP-CDs: Lester Quiñones, Jerome Robinson, Dario Šarić

Wednesday’s inactives: Usman Garuba, Jonathan Kuminga, Pat Spencer