Assessing every Golden State player from the team’s 107-90 loss to Minnesota.
Well, the Golden State Warriors didn’t spend much time with their winning streak. After breaking a five-game skid on Thursday night, the Dubs got back in the loss column on Friday, suffering a 107-90 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was an ugly game, marked by a season-worst 22 turnovers.
Which means it’s time to break out the red pen and grade the players. As always, 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 Friday’s games, league-average TS was 57.4%.
Andrew Wiggins
19 minutes, 11 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3-for-8 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, 56.4% TS, -1
I was, frankly, pretty surprised that Wiggins played in this game. After his star performance on Thursday, Steve Kerr admitted that Wiggins was playing through a lot of pain in his injured ankle, and probably wouldn’t have played if the team had been healthy. So I assumed that with the Dubs playing the second end of a back-to-back, and with Steph Curry and Draymond Green returning, that Wiggins would sit.
Unfortunately, with hindsight, that would have been the move. Wiggins hurt his ankle at the start of the second half, and was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game. Hopefully he won’t be sidelined for too long.
Grade: Please be OK
Jonathan Kuminga
29 minutes, 13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 6-for-15 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 43.3% TS, -7
Kuminga tried to build on Thursday’s career game, but it didn’t go all that well. Sticking in the starting lineup, even with Green returning, seemed to solidify Kuminga’s role as the team’s secondary scoring option, but he wasn’t able to get the shots to fall. Some of them were just misses, and some of them were forced. Not a very clean game, but hopefully a bounce back coming on Sunday.
Grade: C-
Kevon Looney
22 minutes, 2 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 fouls, 1-for-1 shooting, 100.0% TS, -11
Looney was one of the only players to not have an inefficient night shooting (though that was largely due to attempting just one shot), and one of just two Warriors players to not record a turnover. And for that second feat, I genuinely thank him deeply.
It definitely wasn’t a notable game for Looney, but it wasn’t a bad one, either.
Grade: B-
Brandin Podziemski
25 minutes, 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 3-for-7 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 57.1% TS, -16
After playing with veteran savvy as a rookie, Podziemski has backtracked towards being a little bit more of a work in progress this year. After getting chewed out by Kerr for playing recklessly earlier in the week, Podziemski adapted on Thursday, but he regressed a little bit on Friday.
He only had two turnovers — notable since a trio of Dubs had three each — but he did have quite a decent number of ill-advised passes, and moments where he just seemed to be acting first and thinking second … sometimes an admirable skill, but not on this particular night.
Nice to see him drop in a pair of threes, though!
Grade: C
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.
Steph Curry
32 minutes, 23 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, 6-for-17 shooting, 3-for-9 threes, 8-for-8 free throws, 56.0% TS, -3
Curry returned from his brief absence, and goodness was that nice to see. Unfortunately, he still doesn’t look fully himself. It was great to see him attacking the basket so relentlessly, and drawing free throws, as that part of his game has been missing a bit. But he had a hard time getting clean looks, and a hard time making the looks he got. And while he had a few brilliant passes, he also had some downright inexcusable ones as well.
Grade: C
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.
Trayce Jackson-Davis
11 minutes, 3 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-4 shooting, 1-for-2 free throws, 30.7% TS, -5
This was a rough game for TJD, who just couldn’t seem to finish at the rim, even when Rudy Gobert was sidelined. The Warriors simply need him to be able to convert looks when his teammates find him near the hoop.
Grade: C-
Moses Moody
7 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 turnover, 1-for-2 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 75.0% TS, -3
Moody never came out of the tunnel after halftime, with the team announced that, like Wiggins, he would miss the rest of the game due to an impingement in his knee. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious.
Grade: Please be OK
Draymond Green
26 minutes, 10 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-8 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, 59.2% TS, -15
Green was arguably Golden State’s best player on Friday, and it started before the game, when he was fine coming off the bench so that Kuminga could keep starting. He provided an instant boost of scoring, playmaking, and defense when he entered the game. Unfortunately, he also really contributed to the turnover epidemic. Even though he only had a pair of them, he made a lot of reckless passes and was a part of why the Dubs were playing a bit out of control.
Still, a pretty good game, and I’m bumping it up a little for his post-game comments that sure make it sound like he’s pushing for Kuminga to stay in the starting five … at Dray’s expense.
Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds and assists.
Kyle Anderson
12 minutes, 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2-for-3 shooting, 66.7% TS, 0 +/-
A quite solid, if entirely unspectacular Slo Mo game. But hey … that’s what he’s here to do!
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Best plus/minus on the team.
Gary Payton II
17 minutes, 1 point, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 0-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 12.9% TS, -14
GPII attacked the glass brilliantly and violently, and it was awesome. Unfortunately, he had a really bad game in pretty much every other area of the game.
Grade: C-
Buddy Hield
13 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds, 3 turnovers, 2-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 50.0% TS, -3
Not a good game for Hield, and not a lot of playing time, either. With Curry back, Hield doesn’t get quite as much leeway to spread the floor, and he really wasn’t able to find any sort of success when sharing the court with Steph. And way too out of control.
Grade: C-
Lindy Waters III
20 minutes, 6 points, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 2-for-7 shooting, 2-for-7 threes, 42.9% TS, -3
I didn’t expect to see Waters play in this game, but he got a full 20 minutes of action, thanks in part to the team’s offensive ineptitude and in part due to Wiggins and Moody sustaining injuries. The lack of shots inside the arc is almost comical at this point: over the last three games, Waters has attempted 17 shots, and all 17 have been threes (unfortunately he’s made just four of them).
He brought energy to this game, but he didn’t really play well.
Grade: C
Pat Spencer
7 minutes, 2 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 33.3% TS, -4
I also didn’t expect to see Spencer playing meaningful minutes. Kerr seemed to turn to him for playmaking, but unfortunately Spencer also caught the careless turnover bug that plagued nearly the entire team.
Grade: C
Friday’s inactives: Reece Beekman, De’Anthony Melton, Quinten Post, Gui Santos