Player grades: Warriors vs. Clippers

Grading every Golden State player’s performance in the team’s 102-99 loss to LA.

The Golden State Warriors lost just their third game of the season on Monday night, falling 102-99 to the LA Clippers. They were doomed by an awful first half of basketball, which saw them trail by 11 points at the half, and rendered their comeback not quite enough. The Dubs fully erased LA’s lead late in the fourth, but ran out of steam, though only just: they got two good looks at game-tying shots in the waning seconds.

But the shots didn’t fall, and so another loss is added to the column. They may only have three of them so far, but two have come against a Clippers team that still is without Kawhi Leonard. Make of that what you will!

And while you do, I’ll grade the players. As always, grades are based on my expectations for each individual player, with a “B” grade representing that player’s average performance.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. Entering Monday’s game, league average TS was 57.3%.

Draymond Green

32 minutes, 9 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 6 turnovers, 3 fouls, 3-for-7 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 57.1% TS, -3

The Draymond Threen resurgence from beyond the arc continues! I won’t bore you all by posting his three-point stats after every game, but we’re definitely trending out of small sample size territory.

In addition to a pair of triples, Green had some mesmerizing passes in this game, and probably should have had way more assists ... except it was one of those nights where the shots weren’t falling.

Ultimately, the biggest reason the Warriors were in the game was their defense. And the biggest reason they lost the game was their turnovers. And Green probably was the player most responsible for both of those things, so ... call it even, I guess?

Grade: B-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds and assists.

Lindy Waters III

29 minutes, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 foul, 2-for-6 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 50.0% TS, -4

There’s an alternate world where Gary Payton II realizes that Steph Curry’s last-second pass was not intended for him, and steps out of the way to let Waters catch it. Waters was in one of his favorite spots, with his feet set, and his momentum moving towards the hoop. Perhaps he would have played the hero, sent the game to overtime, and helped the Dubs win it there.

Or perhaps he would have missed it. After all, basic math says that’s most likely.

Either way, Waters continued his funny rotational trend: either start or don’t play. Lucky for him, it was the former on Monday, and he acquitted himself nicely. He was very active in all phases of the game, and had some nice defensive plays. It wasn’t a very notable performance, but it was a pretty solid one for a player who’s not even supposed to be in the oversized rotation.

Grade: B+

Trayce Jackson-Davis

20 minutes, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 4-for-5 shooting, 0-for-2 free throws, 68.0% TS, -11

It was a tale of two stints for TJD, who had the unenviable task of holding it down as the only center against Ivica Zubac, with Kevon Looney missing the game due to an illness.

Jackson-Davis struggled pretty mightily in the first quarter. He couldn’t provide much on offense, couldn’t slow down Zubac, and wasn’t making an impact. But his stint in the second quarter was some of the best basketball we’ve ever seen from him, as he was a terror on both ends of the court. That was great to see.

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

Andrew Wiggins

29 minutes, 22 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover, 7-for-12 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 6-for-8 free throws, 70.9% TS, -5

Like nearly all of his teammates, first-half Wiggins and second-half Wiggins were dramatically different players. While his defense on James Harden was okay, his offense in the first half was fairly awful. He seemed to miss shots he should have made, and did a lot of standing around.

But the second half was a huge change. Wiggins was far and away the team’s best non-Curry scorer, attacking relentlessly, and cashing in at a high rate. He cut time and time again, converting those cuts into layups and free throws.

It was still an odd game for Wiggins. He seemed to kind of just be floating on offense during the possessions when he didn’t score, as evidenced by the lack of assists. He also seemed fairly uninterested in rebounding, and his defense came and went.

But the Warriors would have lost without that second-half offensive explosion, and that counts for quite a bit.

Grade: B

Steph Curry

32 minutes, 26 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 1 foul, 10-for-21 shooting, 6-for-15 threes, 61.9% TS, -5

I’m not really sure what to make of Curry’s game. He was downright awful in the first quarter, and not much better in the second. He set the tone (in a bad way) with some first-quarter turnovers, and was just fairly sloppy.

And then he was absolutely electric in the third quarter, and nearly dragged his team to a victory that they didn’t deserve. He made huge shots down the stretch. And, in the aforementioned alternate reality that we’ll never get to see, he might have even assisted on the game-tying bucket (though of course, it’s worth noting that in the actual reality that occurred, Curry missed a game-tying three).

Curry is far from the main reason the Warriors lost, but in a season defined by depth, this was a game that they weren’t going to win without Curry playing like an MVP, and he was “merely” really good.

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

Jonathan Kuminga

19 minutes, 12 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover, 5-for-10 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 1-for-4 free throws, 51.0% TS, +2

Kind of an odd game from Kuminga. He did some fantastic things, including a few plays where it clearly clicked for him that he needed to be aggressive. He made some crucial things happen on defense, and was fairly solid on that end of the floor all night.

Still, I said earlier that turnovers were the biggest reason the Warriors lost. The next reason? Free throws. Golden State shot a pathetic 9-for-19 from the charity stripe, while the Clippers shot a respectable 16-for-18. Given that Golden State lost by three points, I probably don’t need to tell you how important those numbers are, and Kuminga was the team’s biggest offender.

Kuminga gave the Dubs some of their brightest moments in the game, but at the risk of appealing to authority, there’s also a reason he only played 19 minutes.

Grade: B-

Kyle Anderson

13 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 1-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 25.0% TS, -2

It might be time to put the whole Kyle Anderson shooting threes thing to bed.

He’s still an awesome all-around player, but those jumpers were fairly painful to watch in this one.

Grade: C

Buddy Hield

23 minutes, 8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 3-for-7 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 57.1% TS, +5

Not to put too much pressure on Hield’s shoulders, but it’s sure easier for the Warriors to win without a second star next to Curry when Hield has his scoring explosions. Unfortunately, he didn’t really have one in this game.

He had a strong stint in the first quarter to score some points when the team was desperate for them, but didn’t provide much after that. He also had one of the worst plays of the game: after the Warriors had overcome a 15-point deficit to tie the game with a few seconds left in the third quarter, Hield fouled Amir Coffey on an off-balance three at the buzzer. Between the play, the ensuing three free throws (which Coffey made), and the stoppage in play (a review took place to make sure the foul occurred before the buzzer, and to confirm that at was a three), the Warriors seemed to lose the bulk of the momentum they had gained.

On the bright side, he was on the court for some of the team’s best stretches, and I think his gravity as a shooter at least had something to do with that.

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

Gary Payton II

12 minutes, 0 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 foul, 0-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 0.0% TS, +3

I’m sure there will be some fans who blame Payton for catching the end-of-game pass that was intended for Waters. Certainly Waters is the player you’d rather have shooting a game-tying three at the buzzer, and I’m sure GPII would be the first person to tell you that.

I don’t put any blame on him for that play, though. There were a few seconds in the game, it was a broken play, he was open, and the ball was coming right at him. You can’t expect anyone to know exactly where their teammate is in that situation and back out of the play.

Still, while he’s fully absolved of blame for that play in my book, he’s not fully absolved of blame for the rest of the game, which was fairly mediocre. He did play some fantastic defense, as is expected, but his offense was a bit of a struggle, and he didn’t have an easy time impacting the game.

Grade: C+

Moses Moody

16 minutes, 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 2-for-4 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 62.5% TS, +3

It was an odd game for Moody. He and Kuminga were the two players who I thought actually played well in the first half, but then they didn’t in the second half. Moody’s scoring looked nice — he had a great, aggressive take to the hoop — but he seemed a step behind in other parts of the game. He made some uncharacteristically poor passes, and seemed to just stand around on defense for large stretches.

This was the second time that Moody has had at least three turnovers in a game this year, after only doing that three times total in his first three seasons. Part of that is because he’s being more aggressive, and taking on a bigger role in the offense, and those are good things. But much of his success comes from not making mistakes, so it’s a touch concerning.

Grade: C

Brandin Podziemski

16 minutes, 1 point, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 0-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 1-for-3 free throws, 9.4% TS, +2

One compliment for Podziemski: it doesn’t matter if his teammates show up acting like they’re stuck in mud, Podz will always bring the energy. And he certainly brought it in this game, though it’s not quite enough to make me overlook the brutal attempts at scoring. He was a menace on the glass though, and played pretty decent defense.

Grade: C

Monday’s DNPs: Quinten Post, Gui Santos
Monday’s inactives: Reece Beekman, De’Anthony Melton, Pat Spencer