Assessing every Golden State player’s performance in the team’s 105-98 win over Houston.
The Golden State Warriors went into the All-Star break on a high note, beating the Houston Rockets 105-98 on Thursday night. They’re now 3-1 in the Jimmy Butler III era, with all of those games on the road. It was an impressive win for a team worn out from a six-game road trip, an intense trade deadline, and a brutal back-to-back.
Now let’s grade the players who got the job done. As always, grades are based on my expectations for each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance for each 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 57.5%.
Moses Moody
34 minutes, 10 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 3 fouls, 4-for-9 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 50.6% TS, +10
Moody is really cementing his role. He started the first half, started the second half, and was in the closing lineup. Some of those minutes will surely disappear when Jonathan Kuminga returns, but Moody’s all-around play, discipline, energy, and selflessness are vital for the Warriors right now. On a day when they were out of energy, Moody somehow brought a whole lot of it.
Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus/minus on the team.
Jimmy Butler III
35 minutes, 19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 6-for-15 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 6-for-6 free throws, 53.9% TS, +10
This wasn’t Butler’s best scoring game, and he looked dead tired for much of the contest — understandable. He’s still such an impressive player though. He provided offense when it was most needed, defense when it was most needed, and tons of toughness and rebounding. And 35 minutes without a turnover or a foul!
Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus/minus on the team.
Draymond Green
30 minutes, 13 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls, 5-for-8 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 73.2% TS, +8
Strong all-around game for Green, whose defense seems to have gone up a notch since Butler’s arrival. He’s been making some highlight defensive plays, and on Thursday draw the starting assignment on All-Star Alperen Şengün, who was held to a very inefficient 10 points.
There were some sloppy moments down the stretch, hence the four turnovers. But his offense is coming back and his defense is spectacular right now.
Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.
Brandin Podziemski
39 minutes, 18 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 7-for-17 shooting, 2-for-7 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 50.3% TS, +1
Podziemski moved into the starting lineup in Buddy Hield’s place and … yeah, safe to say that’s not going to be reversed anytime soon. Podz is, admittedly, one of the youngest players on the team, but it’s still remarkable that he played nearly 40 minutes on Thursday, on the second half of a back-to-back … and yet somehow was the most energetic player on the court in the fourth quarter.
Not the most efficient game, but much of that was due to some forced shots late in the shot clock. His defense was exceptional, his passing was strong, and I think the Warriors absolutely blow that late lead without his energy and tenacity.
Grade: A
Steph Curry
35 minutes, 27 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 7-for-17 shooting, 5-for-13 threes, 8-for-9 free throws, 64.4% TS, +7
It was an impressive bout of resilience from Curry, who not only played both ends of the back-to-back, but played heavy minutes. It was so clear in the second half that he was completely and utterly gassed, yet he somehow found a way to get his legs under his fourth-quarter jumpers. He was so clutch, at a point in the game where the Warriors probably should have thrown the game away. Gutsy.
Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.
Buddy Hield
14 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 1 block, 1-for-5 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 20.0% TS, +3
Hield got moved out of the starting lineup and … well … it helped the team, but it didn’t really help him. He’s still really struggling on offense, but he’s staying locked in on defense.
Grade: C
Pat Spencer
13 minutes, 6 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 2-for-7 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 38.1% TS, -2
Spencer’s stats don’t jump off the page, but he was brought in during the second quarter and his effort and energy did huge things for the Warriors; and the same thing happened in the second half. It’s these types of performances that are necessary in order to win these kinds of games.
Also: dude can play some defense!
Grade: B+
Kevon Looney
16 minutes, 5 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 5 fouls, 2-for-4 shooting, 1-for-2 free throws, 51.2% TS, +8
With the Warriors being as tired as they were — and playing as small as they did — they were getting destroyed on the glass. And Looney saved the day.
He couldn’t do it all by himself — they were still out-rebounded 68-52. But it was toughness that was desperately needed, and Looney was done no help by the refs, who didn’t seem to care that he was getting man-handled. Two turnovers and five fouls in 16 minutes is less than ideal, but the intangibles jumped off the page for Looney today.
Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.
Gui Santos
17 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 1-for-4 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 51.2% TS, -7
Some great things from Santos and some poor things from him as well. A few silly mistakes, but some clutch shots, strong defense, and great passes.
Grade: B-
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.
Quinten Post
7 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 0-for-3 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 0.0% TS, -3
Post was moved out of the starting lineup, and played a pretty small role in this game. It wasn’t a great matchup for him, and he has some work to do on defense to get back to playing a huge role. But safe to say he’ll have more than seven minutes and zero points on most nights.
Grade: C
Thursday’s DNPs: Trayce Jackson-Davis, Jackson Rowe
Thursday’s inactives: Jonathan Kuminga, Gary Payton II