Tag: Graded

Well, that sure was ugly. The Golden State Warriors shot just 37.5% from the field on Friday, falling back to earth with a one-sided, 130-105 loss to the Phoenix Suns. Whatever momentum and confidence they built on Wednesday in defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder evaporated without a trade on Friday at the Chase Center.

Now I must, unfortunately, 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

31 minutes, 17 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 foul, 6-for-20 shooting, 1-for-5 threes, 4-for-5 free throws, 38.3% TS, -26

A weird game from Wiggins. He was one of the most active Warriors in so many phases, as he led the team in rebounds and assists, all without turning the ball over. And I was pretty impressed with his defense on Kevin Durant.

He also could not buy a bucket, and while he was more than happy to hoist shot after shot, he didn’t seem very interested in trying to get good shots. It’s hard to knock a guy too much for shooting inefficiently when everyone around him was an offensive zombie, but it’s also hard to give a guy too much credit when he took almost as many shots as any two of his teammates combined, and made them at a ghastly clip.

In summation … shrug.

Grade: B-
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in points and rebounds, led the team in assists, worst plus/minus on the team.

Gary Payton II

12 minutes, 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-6 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 21.8% TS, -11

Payton got the start and played some pretty strong defense on Devin Booker. He also missed a bunch of buckets at the rim, which is rare for him, and ultimately his lack of offense was too costly to allow his defense to stay on the floor.

Grade: C

Quinten Post

19 minutes, 9 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 fouls, 3-for-9 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, 47.7% TS, -17

Post got a nice show of confidence by remaining in the starting lineup after Wednesday’s clunker. And he was much, much better in this one. He was a much bigger force in the paint, gobbling up rebounds and playing decent defense without fouling.

He’s still learning how to score at the rim, though, as he was just 1-for-5 inside the arc in this game. The finishing ability will definitely come, though: he has good moves in the post to get clean looks, and he has great touch. It seems he’s just struggling a little bit with the increased size and speed of the NBA game, which is understandable for a player who entered the game having played just 108 total minutes in his career.

Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds.

Buddy Hield

19 minutes, 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 5-for-7 shooting, 3-for-5 threes, 92.9% TS, -9

It seems like the Warriors game plan was run, run, run, and no one took that to heart quite like Hield did. It seemed like every time he touched the ball he was rushing up the court as quickly as he could. It was energy and effort that the team sorely needed and, sadly, could not match.

It also led to him finally catching fire on offense, and he was probably the team’s best player in the first half, and definitely their best shooter.

It got a little ugly for him in the second half, but I can’t blame him too much since he was pressing out of desperation.

Grade: B+

Steph Curry

31 minutes, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 5-for-14 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, 3-for-3 free throws, 45.7% TS, -18

For the second game in a row, Curry was held scoreless in the first quarter, and was a total non-factor in the first half. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a second-half turnaround on Friday like he did on Wednesday.

It’s certainly not time to question whether Curry is falling off a little. But it is becoming clear that, between the roster’s issues, the offensive burden he carries, and his age, we’ve reached an unfortunate point where the Warriors usually need Curry to be the best player on the court to have a chance to win, and he’s not able to be that player as often as he once was.

There’s no shame in getting outplayed by Durant and Booker in one game. But the Warriors just don’t have many paths to victory when that happens. A tough game for the Chef.

Grade: C-

Kevon Looney

15 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 fouls, 1-for-2 shooting, 0-for-1 free throws, 41.0% TS, -1

A really strong defensive game for Looney, even though he didn’t bring Wednesday’s offensive excellence with him. He just didn’t impact the game all that much, but the defense really was impressive, minus the fouls.

Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus/minus on the team.

Gui Santos

19 minutes, 5 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 52.5% TS, -4

My favorite sequence in the game involved Santos. He took Durant one-on-one, crossed him over, blew by him easily, and laid the ball in. About 10 seconds later, Durant pulled up for a three directly in Santos’ face, and drained in, then gave the youngster a smack on the butt. It seemed a fun and competitive show of respect from the former Warrior to the current one.

Grade: B-

Moses Moody

24 minutes, 17 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 foul, 5-for-10 shooting, 4-for-7 threes, 3-for-5 free throws, 69.7% TS, -6

A fantastic Moody game. He had some critical threes to help keep the Warriors in the game early on, and was one of the few players who brought energy and effort all night long. The He played half the game, and the Warriors were outscored by six points when he was on the court and 19 points when he wasn’t. That feels about right.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in points.

Dennis Schröder

21 minutes, 5 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 2-for-8 shooting, 1-for-5 threes, 0-for-2 free throws, 28.2% TS, -13

I thought Schröder played pretty well everywhere except scoring. And it was a tough watch there, as the Suns dared him to shoot threes, which he obliged, but without success. Strong game elsewhere, though.

Grade: B-

Brandin Podziemski

22 minutes, 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 5-for-9 shooting, 4-for-7 threes, 77.8% TS, -6

Post-injury Podziemski continues to be a brand new player, and it’s awesome. A little out of control in this one at times, but otherwise a great game from Podz.

Grade: B+

Kyle Anderson

12 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 2-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 66.7% TS, -7

These Kyle Anderson minutes were, without a doubt, Kyle Anderson minutes.

Grade: B

Trayce Jackson-Davis

9 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 0-for-2 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 34.7% TS, -6

After getting a DNP on Wednesday, TJD got back on the court on Friday, but not until late in the third quarter when the ship was sinking and the team was in desperation mode. Looked a little out of sorts.

Grade: C

Lindy Waters III

6 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal, 0-for-3 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 0.0% TS, -1

Just some garbage time for Waters, who is out of the rotation at the moment.

Friday’s inactives: Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Jackson Rowe, Pat Spencer