Player grades: Warriors vs. Celtics

Assessing every Golden State player from the team’s 125-85 loss to Boston.

The Golden State Warriors, by virtue of their popularity and star power, drew a holiday assignment, hosting the Boston Celtics on Monday for the second of TNT’s MLK Day doubleheader. And they were utterly embarrassed and humiliated, losing 125-85 in a game that wasn’t competitive after the first eight minutes.

The Warriors were not at full strength, while the Celtics were, but that shouldn’t be anywhere near a 40-point swing. It was, quite simply, a pathetic loss all around.

Unfortunately I have to grade it. I’ll make it quick, because the less time spent thinking about this game, the better. 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 Monday’s games, league-average TS was 57.4%.

Andrew Wiggins

24 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 1-for-11 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 16.8% TS, -29

I owe Wiggins an apology. On Saturday, in the team’s win over the Washington Wizards, Wiggins had arguably his best game of the season. He scored a game-high 31 points, and it felt like each bucket was incredibly important. He grabbed 11 rebounds. He was wildly efficient. He played awesome defense.

And I unfortunately did not have the time to do a player grades article for that game.

I do have time today, when Wiggins had one of his worst games of the year. He was a non-factor on defense, a non-factor on the glass, and a negative-factor on offense. He looked lethargic and uninterested.

He would have had an A+ on Saturday; I just feel the need to say that.

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

Gary Payton II

12 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 33.3% TS, -10

Payton got the start with Draymond Green injured, and you could see the vision. He was remarkably disruptive — even by his high standards — in the early going, as Golden State had a really strong defensive start. But as the offense fell apart, it became clear that Steve Kerr needed to put some shooters and creators on the court, so Payton didn’t get much run, despite playing well in his minutes.

Grade: B+

Trayce Jackson-Davis

18 minutes, 5 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2-for-3 shooting, 1-for-2 free throws, 64.4% TS, -21

TJD did some pretty decent things in this game on offense. He showed really good patience, even when the team was desperate. His defense couldn’t hold up though, which is understandable for a young center guarding an All-Star center while having to provide help defense on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

Grade: B-

Dennis Schröder

17 minutes, 7 points, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 3-for-8 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 43.8% TS, -29

The Warriors don’t have a set second scorer. But I think it’s safe to say that when Jonathan Kuminga can’t play, and Wiggins and Schröder combine for 11 points on 4-for-19 shooting, that the Dubs are probably never going to win.

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

Steph Curry

27 minutes, 18 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 6-for-16 shooting, 4-for-12 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 53.3% TS, -15

The Warriors were firmly in the game in the first quarter until Curry went to the bench. And then, when he went to the bench, they were no longer in the game, and they would not get back into the game. That’s the Curry impact.

It wasn’t his best game, but it’s still notable that, through three quarters — at which point garbage time began — the Warriors were outscored by 15 points in Curry’s 27 minutes and 27 seconds, and outscored by 19 points in the eight minutes and 33 seconds that he sat. Even if he could have played all 48 minutes they would have lost, but at least it would have had a shred of respectability.

Anyway, Curry was fine. He wasn’t great, but given that Boston was focusing all of their defensive attention on him, and he went into All-Star put-on-a-show-for-the-poor-fans mode in the third quarter, I can’t quibble with his performance much.

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

Gui Santos

27 minutes, 7 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 3-for-8 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, 43.8% TS, -18

I’m enjoying Santos getting a chance to grow into a real role while other players are injured. This was certainly a challenging test for him ... he was a little overwhelmed on defense, and, like the Warriors as a whole, he really struggled shooting the ball. But he also had some excellent plays that showed both his hustle and his strong instincts.

Grade: C+

Moses Moody

32 minutes, 13 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 5-for-13 shooting, 3-for-9 threes, 50.0% TS, -25

Moody played fairly well but, more importantly, he played hard. He played hard when the team was in it, he played hard when they started to lose it, and he played hard when they were firmly out of it. That’s more than a lot of his teammates can say.

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

Kevon Looney

16 minutes, 5 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 2-for-4 shooting, 1-for-2 free throws, 51.2% TS, -11

Death, taxes, and Looney working his butt off to rebound the basketball.

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

Buddy Hield

22 minutes, 6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 2-for-5 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 1-for-3 free throws, 47.5% TS, -18

Hield’s offense has been pretty inefficient for a while now, but it was still weird seeing him be so conservative. Five shots in 22 minutes is definitely not what the Warriors need from him, especially with their second-best playmaker (Green) and second-best scorer (Kuminga) sidelined.

Grade: D+

Lindy Waters III

19 minutes, 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 2-for-7 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 42.9% TS, -10

Waters was one of just three Warriors, along with Curry and Moody, to make multiple threes. Unfortunately he didn’t do much else. He looked really overmatched on defense.

Grade: C-

Quinten Post

14 minutes, 9 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover, 4-for-8 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 56.3% TS, -8

Some serious run for Post! He played more minutes in this game than he had in the rest of his career combined. It was great to see him get in a rhythm, and show the potential he has to be a factor in the offense in future seasons.

Grade: B+

Pat Spencer

12 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 1-for-6 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 25.0% TS, -6

Just garbage time for Spencer. He really does have a knack for moving the ball and finding the open man, though he didn’t play too well beyond that.

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

Monday’s inactives: Kyle Anderson, Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski