Player grades: Warriors vs. Lakers
Assessing every Golden State player in the team’s 124-111 loss to Los Angeles.
The Golden State Warriors emerged from the All-Star Game hibernation on Thursday night and ... fell flat on their face. Playing without Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins, the Dubs were outmatched and outclassed in Southern California, and fell to the Los Angeles Lakers 124-111.
Let’s grade the players who didn’t get the job done. As always, grades are based on my expectations, with a “B” grade representing the average performance for a 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 57.0%.
Draymond Green
25 minutes, 6 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 3-for-10 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 30.0% TS, -7
A rather ho-hum game for Green on offense, though his defense was on point. The Warriors held Anthony Davis to 3-for-5 shooting and LeBron James to 5-for-20 shooting, and Dray had a pretty big hand in both of those efforts.
He had a few exceptional passes but, as has often been this case, looked like an offensive negative with Curry sidelined.
Dray ➡️ JK to throw it down!
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 24, 2023
@NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/8fG425ppX4
Grade: B-
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in assists.
Jonathan Kuminga
25 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 fouls, 4-for-12 shooting, 1-for-5 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, 40.2% TS, -4
Kuminga has been playing good basketball lately, but I’m still not sure what is going into the decision to occasionally start him over Kevon Looney. But then again, I can hardly blame Steve Kerr for wanting to switch things up given how poorly the season has gone to this point.
Either way, Kuminga did some good things (he was aggressive, passed the ball well, and played quality defense), and some bad things (he was inefficient, took a few ill-advised shots, and had some sloppy mistakes).
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in assists.
Klay Thompson
27 minutes, 22 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 8-for-19 shooting, 4-for-11 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 55.3% TS, -10
Not a very memorable game for Klay. He scored a bit, but not with great efficiency, and struggled all game long to get clean looks. With Curry and Wiggins out, the Lakers defense really honed in on Klay and played excellent defense on him.
Kla☂️
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) February 24, 2023
@NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/GAqfTXGBGL
Thompson really didn’t do much other than score. His 27 minutes netted him no assists and just a pair of rebounds. His defense was fine but not special.
Grade: C+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in scoring.
Donte DiVincenzo
24 minutes, 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 2-for-7 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, 35.7% TS, -9
DiVincenzo entered the All-Star break having shot 53-for-114 from three-point range in his last 19 games. But he came out of the gates with an ice cold jumper, which detracted from a very strong defensive game.
Grade: B-
Jordan Poole
29 minutes, 16 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 3-for-13 shooting, 2-for-7 threes, 8-for-9 free throws, 47.2% TS, -16
Well ... you can’t knock the effort, I guess. Poole was trying exceptionally hard all game long to be an offensive difference maker, to the point that it was hurting the team at times. He never really was a difference maker, save for a blistering stretch towards the end of the second quarter, where he scored 13 of his 16 points.
Grade: C+
JaMychal Green
16 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1-for-5 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 0-for-2 free throws, 25.5% TS, -21
Since returning from a staph infection, Green had shot 13-for-24 from distance. But, like with DiVincenzo, that cooled off in Los Angeles (where, in fairness, it was raining).
The Warriors are a much better team when JMG is making threes, so hopefully that returns.
Grade: D+
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.
Kevon Looney
20 minutes, 10 points, 15 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 5-for-7 shooting, 0-for-1 free throws, 67.2% TS, -1
I thought Looney pretty firmly outplayed Anthony Davis in this game, and that’s all that needs to be said.
Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.
Anthony Lamb
24 minutes, 0 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 0-for-6 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 0.0% TS, -4
Lamb’s jump shot was broken in this game, and his defense was awful. But four assists is pretty impressive, and he displayed a lot of energy and hustle trying to make the little plays.
Grade: C
Patrick Baldwin Jr.
10 minutes, 11 points, 2 rebounds, 4-for-6 shooting, 3-for-5 threes, 91.7% TS, +7
The one upside of the Warriors loss was there was enough garbage time for Baldwin to play almost an entire quarter. As has been the case lately, PBJ showed enough in those minutes to make you pretty darn excited about his future. And I still maintain that he’ll be a part of the rotation next season.
His cuts were really good, but what currently stands out is that he’s shooting 25-for-54 from three-point range in his debut season.
Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus/minus on the team.
Ty Jerome
30 minutes, 20 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 8-for-15 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 63.0% TS, -7
Jerome did some awesome things in this game. Most importantly, he scored efficiently when no one else could ... of the nine players who played non-garbage time minutes, only Jerome and Looney scored the ball with better than league average efficiency.
He may not be a traditional point guard, but the Warriors have never relied on those. He makes things happen on offense when Curry is out, and that’s a big thing.
Grade: A-
Moses Moody
10 minutes, 8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 foul, 2-for-5 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, 59.2% TS, +7
I’ve criticized Moody in the past for being too passive, but lately he’s been showing a lot more aggression. Which is good, because he’s only shooting 37-for-109 from distance this year. He’s 1-for-11 in his last six games, and 6-for-31 since December 30. But he’s starting to drive a lot more, and good things are happening when he does.
Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus/minus on the team.
Thursday’s inactives: Steph Curry, Andre Iguodala, Gary Payton II, Ryan Rollins, Andrew Wiggins