Player grades: Warriors vs. Jazz

Assessing every Golden State player’s performance in the team’s 140-137 win over Utah.

For a while it looked like the Golden State Warriors would saunter into the All-Star break in style. Then yet another fourth-quarter collapse struck, and it took a truly absurd closing sequence for the Dubs to escape with a 140-137 win over the Utah Jazz.

But a win is a win is a win. And the Warriors enter the week off with more wins than losses ... and eight wins in their last 10 games. You can even find the empathy in your heart to somewhat excuse the team running out of steam late, seeing as how they were on the back end of a back-to-back and didn’t get into Salt Lake City until 4:00 a.m. local time.

Now let’s offer up the final grades before the All-Star break. As always, grades are based on my expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that 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 58.2%.

Draymond Green

28 minutes, 23 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks, 4 fouls, 9-for-14 shooting, 3-for-5 threes, 2-for-4 free throws, 73.0% TS, -8

Green wasn’t the story of the game for the Warriors but uhh ... he rather emphatically flexed his muscles in this game. His three-point shooting continues to be a revelation — he’s shooting over 40% on 2.5 attempts per game. But setting aside the jumper, his offense has just been critical lately. Not only is he doing his usual great job of setting people up (and finding a rhythm throwing alley-oops to Jonathan Kuminga), but he’s been so aggressive with the ball in his hands, which really helps open up the offense.

But of course, he’s here to play defense, and the six stocks do a good job painting a picture of the game he played on that end of the court. Utah certainly scored a lot, but Green was not the reason why.

Grade: A

Jonathan Kuminga

24 minutes, 13 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 5-for-6 shooting, 3-for-4 free throws, 83.8% TS, -5

JK took a backseat for a lot of this game, but was quietly strong. After being a 20-point machine for a while, he’s shown a remarkable ability to have restraint lately as his teammates have picked up the scoring slack. It absolutely smacks you in the face how often Kuminga is making a pass where a forced shot used to be.

He displayed that at the start of the game, first pump-faking on an open look before setting up Green for a bucket, then pump-faking on an open look before driving to earn a foul. He displayed it at the start of the second half as well when, after scoring the first four points of the third quarter, he again passed on a look to set up Green.

He knows how to impact the game without scoring 20 points or taking a lot of shots.

It wasn’t all good. It wasn’t his cleanest defensive game, and he had one of the worst plays of the night, making a horrific pass when the Warriors not only had a five-on-three, but were milking an eight-point lead late in the game.

Grade: B

Andrew Wiggins

29 minutes, 19 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 7-for-12 shooting, 3-for-4 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 73.8% TS, -14

Wiggins had a crucial first quarter that helped keep the Dubs afloat even as they were struggling. He gave them instant offense in the frame, dropping in 11 points on perfect 4-for-4 shooting.

As has been the case with Wiggins this year, a great first quarter didn’t fully carry over into the other 36 minutes of the game. Yet despite a pair of very bad turnovers, Wiggins was solid the rest of the way out, if not dynamic.

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

Steph Curry

35 minutes, 16 points, 2 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls, 4-for-14 shooting, 2-for-8 threes, 6-for-8 free throws, 45.7% TS, -2

It was an uncharacteristically-poor shooting night for Curry, from beyond the arc, inside the arc, and even at the free throw line (including a nearly-costly miss late). He made up for it a bit with some tremendous passing, though even that came with a lot of assists, and he looked pretty tired on the defensive end.

As an analyst or as a fan, I give him a pass given the whole landing at four in the morning, carrying the weight of the franchise thing. But as a grader, I can’t overlook a pretty poor night relative to our expectations.

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

Brandin Podziemski

33 minutes, 13 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 5-for-12 shooting, 3-for-7 threes, 54.2% TS, +3

Podziemski returned to the starting lineup, and it looked like he’s going to stay there for a while. Given that the Warriors just seem to always play well when he’s on the court, it’s hard to argue with that decision. It wasn’t his best scoring night, though a lot of his buckets were very timely ... including a huge three at the end of the first half to match one by opposing rookie Keyontae George, and swing the momentum back to the Dubs.

I’m past the point of having something profound to say about Podziemski. Rookies aren’t supposed to be this good. 20-year old rookies who weren’t lottery picks really aren’t supposed to be this good.

Grade: A-

Dario Šarić

10 minutes, 7 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 2-for-4 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 71.17% TS, +4

Šarić had one of his best games in a while, even if his role remains greatly diminished (not really through any fault of his own). The offense started to flow and move well as soon as he got on the court, and he created a bunch of good looks for his teammates, while making some shots of his own.

Grade: B+

Kevon Looney

11 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 fouls, 0-for-1 shooting, 0.0% TS, +8

Looney did some nice things passing the ball, and was solid defensively. He’s not really playing enough minutes to make a serious impact right now, though. But he did really well with what he had.

Grade: B+

Trayce Jackson-Davis

8 minutes, 4 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 fouls, 1-for-2 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 69.4% TS, +1

The third of the “about 10 minutes per game” backup center logjam, TJD brought some much-needed energy in his short bit of action, impacting the game on both ends of the floor, and matching Utah’s legs and athleticism.

Grade: B+

Klay Thompson

28 minutes, 35 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 13-for-22 shooting, 7-for-13 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 76.5% TS, +5

Klay came off the bench for the first time since his rookie year and was absolutely majestic. He gave the Dubs some much-needed offense in the first quarter, dropping in 10 points. He passed 15,000 career points in the second quarter, leading to a fantastic moment during a halftime interview. He poured in 18 points in the third quarter as Golden State nearly turned the game into a blowout. And he buckled down in the fourth quarter, making a few key defensive plays.

I’m just going to leave you with some videos.

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

Gary Payton II

15 minutes, 4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 2-for-3 shooting, 66.7% TS, +7

GPII was a menace defensively, though he also had a very rough play resulting in a foul on a three-point attempt. But otherwise, he at times single-handedly kept Jazz players at bay, and put his athleticism to good use on the other end of the court.

Grade: A-

Lester Quiñones

16 minutes, 6 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 foul, 1-for-2 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 79.8% TS, +10

Quiñones is really impressing with his playmaking ability. He’s crisp and quick, rushing the ball to open teammates as soon as he catches it. And when the defense sells out to cut off passing lanes, he either pops a three or drives to the hoop. He’s really been showing a lot over the last few weeks.

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

Thursday’s DNP-CDs: Moses Moody, Jerome Robinson, Gui Santos

Thursday’s inactives: Usman Garuba, Chris Paul