Player grades: Warriors vs. Bulls

Assessing every Golden State player’s performance from the team’s 125-122 loss to Chicago.

The Golden State Warriors lost their momentum, their pride, and potentially a few of their players on Thursday, blowing a 13-point first-quarter lead en route to a 125-122 loss to the Chicago Bulls.

I’ll be honest: I don’t want to talk about this game in the slightest. It’s been a long day, the loss was frustrating, and the Warriors suffered injuries to Steph Curry and Trayce Jackson-Davis. On top of that, these are my least favorite games to try and analyze: while the loss was equal parts inexplicable and inexcusable, the Bulls shot significantly better than they usually do on threes, while the Warriors shot significantly worse. If you subscribe to the analytically-driven notion that teams don’t really impact opposing three-point percentages — only variance really does — then you could claim that luck and variance not only are responsible for the loss, but cost the Warriors a blowout win.

Of course, that’s not how sports work. The Warriors didn’t have a blowout win. They didn’t have any win at all. But it makes it both harder and less fun to write about.

So I’m going to go through these very quickly. As always, grades are based on my expectations for each 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 Thursday’s games, league-average TS was 58.1%.

Draymond Green

33 minutes, 11 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers, 6 fouls, 5-for-12 shooting, 1-for-5 threes, 45.8% TS, 0 plus/minus

Even just glancing at the box score, you can easily see the sweet and sour with Green’s performance. He had a triple-double — his first of the year! He also committed four turnovers and fouled out of the game (admittedly with just 58 seconds left, but still).

The fourth turnover and sixth foul were the same play, as Green was called for an illegal screen as Klay Thompson was trying to spring open for a go-ahead jumper.

This game was just a really strong reminder as to how important Green is: both in terms of how much he makes the team click, and how much he can hurt the team when he’s not making them click.

Grade: B-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists, tied for the team lead in rebounds.

Jonathan Kuminga

33 minutes, 19 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 5-for-11 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 9-for-10 free throws, 61.7% TS, +3

JK had a mostly good game. It can’t be ignored that he was one of two players (we’ll get to the other, don’t worry), whose energy and effort levels never dipped. Kuminga made it clear that he would do what he could to avoid the loss. The way he attacked both the offensive and defensive glass like a movie character at a wedding chasing the bouquet was a sight to behold. And I absolutely adored the regularity with which he got to the free throw line.

He also got taken to school by DeMar DeRozan, who shot 10-for-17 from the field, marched to the free throw line often, and finished with 33 points. DeRozan got what he wanted late against Kuminga, and JK committed fouls on critical and-ones near the end of both the first and fourth quarters.

Some tough learning lessons, but still a very good game.

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

Andrew Wiggins

15 minutes, 8 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 3-for-6 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 58.1% TS, +7

It’s worth keeping an eye on Wiggins. After returning on Wednesday from a four-game absence, Wiggins has played just 30 total minutes in two games. I’m guessing that’s more due to Steve Kerr working him back into the fold and not wanting to push his conditioning. But with how well Moses Moody has been playing lately, it will be worth monitoring Wiggins to see if he has a reduced role going forwards ... even if he’s still starting.

Either way, not a bad game or a good game for Wiggins, I’d say.

Grade: B-

Steph Curry

33 minutes, 15 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 5-for-18 shooting, 3-for-12 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 39.7% TS, +9

Just a rough game through and through for Curry. At no point did he look offensively comfortable ... his shot was off all night, with the bulk of his misses not being particularly close. He struggled to break down the defense enough to get layups, fouls, or set up teammates. And to pour salt in the wound, he left the game with about four minutes remaining after rolling his ankle, and limped to the locker room.

That’s the main story of the game, and the biggest concern right now.

Grade: D+/Heal up, chef
Post-game bonus: Best plus/minus on the team.

Brandin Podziemski

27 minutes, 11 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 foul, 4-for-7 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 2-for-4 free throws, 62.8% TS, +7

Podziemski had a pretty good game. Unfortunately, all anyone will remember is that he missed an uncontested layup that would have tied the game with a few seconds remaining.

Shake it off, Podz. You’ll get a chance for redemption soon enough.

Grade: B-

Trayce Jackson-Davis

18 minutes, 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 4 fouls, 3-for-3 shooting, 2-for-3 free throws, 92.6% TS, -15

After TJD’s dominant game on Wednesday, Kerr said the team was going to tighten up their rotation. And on Thursday it became evident how: Jackson-Davis played a big role off the bench, while neither Kevon Looney nor Dario Šarić played.

The bench unit didn’t have a ton of success on Thursday, but Jackson-Davis still played very well, though it wasn’t his best defensive outing. And did anyone know he had this in his bag???

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

Chris Paul

24 minutes, 15 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 turnover, 6-for-8 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 84.5% TS, -15

As with TJD, the bench unit not excelling was not really CP3’s fault. And, like TJD, it wasn’t Paul’s best defensive effort, but he was absolutely brilliant running the offense.

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

Klay Thompson

28 minutes, 25 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 foul, 9-for-21 shooting, 5-for-12 threes, 2-for-3 free throws, 56.0% TS, -11

Klay may be past the days of regularly carrying a team with his scoring ... but he can carry a bench unit, it seems. He’s now led the team in scoring four times since starting his new career as a sixth man. That’s impressive!

It wasn’t the most well-rounded game for Klay, but he had some really big shots.

Grade: B

Gary Payton II

11 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 0-for-1 shooting, 0.0% TS, +2

Finding minutes for GPII isn’t easy right now with how healthy the Warriors are, and how well their young guards are playing. But he’s such a dynamic player that he needs to get a decent amount of on-court time. Somedays I’m glad I’m not Kerr. The days when I check my bank account are not those days.

Grade: C

Moses Moody

23 minutes, 10 points, 9 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 4-for-9 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 50.6% TS, -2

Remember when I said that Kuminga was one of two Warriors playing with consistent energy and effort? Moody was the other. He flew in from out of nowhere for rebounds seemingly once a minute. He regularly beat his teammates and the opponent down the court.

In Moody’s first two seasons, I often criticized him for passivity. He played a mature brand of basketball in which he rarely ever made mistakes, but he also rarely ever put his stamp on a game. He never really forced his presence on other teams.

That’s really changed lately. The word that keeps springing to my mind watching Moody play is urgency. As the kids would say, he plays basketball like his rent is due.

And right now it looks to me like he might be playing himself into the team’s long-term plans as the starting small forward.

Grade: A-

Lester Quiñones

0 minutes, 0 points, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 0 plus/minus

Quiñones had an opportunity to have the most dynamic and impactful two-second outing in league history. He entered the game with 2.1 seconds remaining, while DeRozan was at the free throw line pushing the Bulls lead to three. With the Warriors out of timeouts, Quiñones fielded the inbounds near halfcourt, and launched a 60-footer at the buzzer.

It didn’t go in, of course. But imagine if it did!

Grade: Incomplete

Thursday’s DNP-CDs: Kevon Looney, Gui Santos, Dario Šarić

Thursday’s inactives: Usman Garuba, Pat Spencer, Jerome Robinson