Player grades: Warriors vs. Pistons

Assessing every Golden State player’s performance from the team’s 107-104 win over Detroit.

The Golden State Warriors got back in the win column on Thursday night, with a spirited and exciting 107-104 win over the Detroit Pistons. It moved the Dubs back above .500, and set them up to have a solid four-game road trip.

Golden State was extremely shorthanded, so it was all (healthy) hands on deck. Now let’s grade those healthy hands — as always, grades are based on my expectations of 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 Thursday’s games, league-average TS was 57.4%.

Buddy Hield

32 minutes, 19 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 7-for-15 shooting, 5-for-11 threes, 63.3% TS, 0 plus/minus

Hield is on the Warriors to be a lightning bolt of offense, yet this kind of felt like a quiet 19 points. And I mean that as a compliment … he just had a solid all-around game, and then when it ended you realized that he had led the team in points.

With the exception of this game, Hield’s offense has been in a bit of a rut lately, but he’s been playing better all-around basketball. His offense came back to life on Thursday as he took Andrew Wiggins’ spot in the lineup, and he channeled a bit of Wiggins with the defense as well. Just a really strong all-around game.

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

Draymond Green

32 minutes, 7 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 4 turnovers, 4 fouls, 3-for-9 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 35.4% TS, -2

Certainly not the best stat line for Green, but I think he played a lot better than it would suggest. The three blocks feels more emblematic of his performance than any of the other stats, as Green really controlled the game on defense, especially in the first half.

The turnovers and efficiency were a bummer, so we’ll call it a wash with what I thought was one of his best defensive games of the season.

Grade: B

Trayce Jackson-Davis

26 minutes, 14 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 7-for-9 shooting, 0-for-2 free throws, 70.9% TS, +16

TJD has been coming into his own in recent games, and it’s an absolute joy to witness. The starting lineup is starting to click, and his offensive prowess and improvements on defense and rebounding are a huge part of it. Just an excellent game all around for the youngster, who is blossoming before our eyes.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds, best plus/minus on the team.

Dennis Schröder

35 minutes, 13 points, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 5 fouls, 5-for-11 shooting, 1-for-5 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 54.7% TS, +7

Schröder had a nearly-disastrous play when he fouled Cade Cunningham with less than five seconds remaining and the Warriors leading by four. But he more than made up for it with multiple clutch buckets down the stretch that helped stop the bleeding just enough as the Pistons nearly erased an 18-point deficit in the closing minutes. His veteran leadership and isolation scoring are playing huge dividends.

Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in assists.

Steph Curry

36 minutes, 17 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 5-for-21 shooting, 2-for-14 threes, 5-for-5 free throws, 36.6% TS, -14

Well, things certainly changed between Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, Curry shot 8-for-17 on threes, and his teammates shot just 6-for-33. On Thursday, Curry shot just 2-for-14 from deep, while his teammates went 13-for-32.

Curry still made quite an impact. After bizarrely having back-to-back games without an assist, Steph was dishing the rock all around on Thursday, repeatedly setting up teammates, and he had a stellar game attacking the glass. But it was odd to see him miss so many clean looks, even if it was impressive to see the Warriors win anyway.

Grade: C+
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds and assists, tied for the worst plus/minus on the team.

Kevon Looney

21 minutes, 8 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 fouls, 4-for-6 shooting, 0-for-1 free throws, 62.1% TS, -14

Looney has been a healthy DNP-CD quite a bit lately, but was pressed into action on Thursday with the Dubs so banged up and facing such a big team. He was excellent, and a huge presence in the paint on offense, defense, and rebounding. There were a few stretches where he seemed to right the ship all by himself as the Warriors were sinking.

Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Tied for the worst plus/minus on the team.

Kyle Anderson

9 minutes, 4 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2-for-5 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 40.0% TS, +7

I thought Anderson would play a bigger role with only 10 players available, but Looney and Jackson-Davis played well enough that Slo Mo wasn’t really needed. He played well in his short stints, though.

Grade: B+

Gui Santos

26 minutes, 13 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-6 shooting, 4-for-6 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 94.5% TS, +7

Well hello there, Gui!!!

Santos knew he would get playing time since the Warriors had only 10 available players. But no one knew he would play 26 minutes, which only happened because he was legitimately one of the best players on the court … maybe the best player in the first half.

Santos did a little bit of everything. His defense was spectacular, with the two steals not coming close to reflecting how many turnovers he helped create. He was a sniper from deep, moved well off the ball, and made some brilliant passes. Even the turnovers are easy to excuse since most of them were the result of not yet having rapport with the teammates that he’s essentially never shared the court with.

Ultimately, Santos — a player whose meaningful minutes you could count on one hand entering this game — was a player who the Warriors would not have won without. And there’s only one grade for that.

Grade: A+

Lindy Waters III

19 minutes, 11 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover, 4-for-7 shooting, 3-for-6 threes, 78.6% TS, +6

Waters want ballistic in the second quarter, and helped the Warriors build up a big lead. He also played really strong defense. I have nothing bad to say.

Grade: A-

Pat Spencer

4 minutes, 1 point, 1 assist, 1 block, 1-for-2 free throws, 56.8% TS, +2

Not sure Spencer played enough for us to really evaluate him, but he played well.

Grade: B+

Jonathan Kuminga’s outfit

I mean … come on.

Photo by Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images

Grade: A+

Thursday’s inactives: Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Gary Payton II, Brandin Podziemski, Quinten Post, Andrew Wiggins