Player grades: Warriors vs. Hornets

The Golden State Warriors put together their most complete team performance of the season on Wednesday night, beating the Charlotte Hornets 114-92 to improve to 6-1. Jordan Poole and Gary Payton II will justifiably get the bulk of the headlines, but nearly everyone contributed.

So let’s grade them all, and as always, we’ll weight based on expectations.

Draymond Green

35 minutes, 5 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 2-for-5 shooting, 1-for-3 free throws, +26

Draymond was everywhere, as we’ve come to expect from him. He was mixing it up with the bigs, grabbing rebounds and batting balls out. He was dishing from the halfcourt and leading the break. He was playing divine defense, even if it was the rare night where he probably wasn’t the Dubs’ best defender.

The scoring was down a little, and you’d like to see fewer turnovers, but it was quality basketball.

Grade: B+

Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds

Andrew Wiggins

29 minutes, 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 4-for-13 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, +9

It was a tale of two halves for Wiggins, who had a disastrous first half before making a few key buckets in the second half. He’s definitely struggled this season, but he’s also had a knack for making a timely three in more games than not.

Grade: C

Kevon Looney

15 minutes, 7 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 1 foul, 3-for-3 shooting, 1-for-4 free throws, 0

I’m not sure what to make of Looney’s game. He had some of his best offensive moments of the season, attacking the rim with and without the ball, drawing fouls, and making all of his shots from the field. But he also contributed to the team’s turnover party. So I guess just another ho-hum game in a ho-hum season for an underappreciated but unexciting player.

Grade: B-

Steph Curry

35 minutes, 15 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, 6-for-15 shooting, 3-for-11 threes, -1

If you want one of the funniest stats you’ll see all season, here it is: the Warriors were outscored by one point in Curry’s 35 minutes, and outscored the Hornets by 23 points in the 13 minutes when he sat.

That’s your daily reminder that single game +/- should be taken with a grain of salt as big as Curry’s endorsement checks, but it wasn’t a great game for the Dubs’ superstar. His turnovers were a touch out of control — it sure felt like he had more than four — and the jumper wasn’t falling. He had a hard time penetrating the defense, with only a few layups and no free throws. He stayed engaged — the rebound and assist numbers are nice, and he was the biggest bench cheerleader — but I’m guessing he’s chomping at the bit to get back on the court Friday.

Grade: C+

Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists

Jordan Poole

32 minutes, 31 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 11-for-21 shooting, 7-for-16 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, +28

If you blurred your eyes while watching the game, you might have thought that Poole was actually Curry. It might have been JP’s bast impression of his backcourt mate: he was flying around off-ball screens, pump-faking and side-stepping, using the threat of the three ball to get to the rim (and set up his teammates), and hoisting from deep enough that every announcer googled “Bay Area suburbs.”

Just a masterful performance.

Grade: A

Post-game bonus: Led the team in points and +/-

Nemanja Bjelica

13 minutes, 8 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 3-for-4 shooting, 2-for-2 threes, 0-for-1 free throws, +9

Bjelica continues to get fewer minutes than his performance would dictate, but the Warriors are a deep team. He deserves big credit in this game for being a key part of the second unit that helped turn things around in the first quarter.

Grade: B+

Jonathan Kuminga

2 minutes, 0 points, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, +5

Kuminga got to play the only two minutes of garbage time, but it was still impressive because he played a twofer: this game came just a few hours after he scored 16 points for the G League’s Santa Cruz Warriors.

Grade: Incomplete, but impressive

Andre Iguodala

17 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1-for-2 shooting, 1-for-1 threes, +8

Iguodala’s passing continues to impress, and it’s really helped unlock the second unit. Steve Kerr didn’t rely on the veteran quite as much tonight, but it’s clear that Iguodala’s minutes are crucial.

Grade: B

Otto Porter Jr.

11 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, -9

Porter was one of the few players in this game who felt like a non-factor. The nice thing about the Warriors having such a strong bench is that they can have one or two of those performances per game.

Grade: C

Post-game bonus: Lowest +/- on the team

Juan Toscano-Anderson

14 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, 0-for-2 shooting, +3

I barely remember JTA playing in this game, but I do know he played awesome defense. Because that’s what he does.

Grade: B-

Jeff Dowtin

2 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, +5

Like Kuminga, Dowtin played earlier in the day for Santa Cruz, logging 32 minutes and scoring 11 points (admittedly on 12 shots) with 4 assists.

But more importantly, this was the game that got him in the books as an NBA player.

Grade: A++ for making his NBA debut

Damion Lee

16 minutes, 15 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 5-for-8 shooting, 3-for-4 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, +4

I think Lee is officially at the point where his performance is not a hot start to the season, but rather a leap that he’s taken. He’s good. Really good. And it’s amazing how often he’s exactly what the Warriors doctor ordered.

The only knock on his performance tonight is that he didn’t get many minutes, and some of his damage came in garbage time.

Grade: A-

Moses Moody

2 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 block, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, +5

Like Kuminga and Dowtin, Moody donned a Sea Dubs jersey earlier in the day, scoring 16 points and grabbing 7 rebounds in Santa Cruz’s big win. And like his fellow rookies, he only showed up in garbage time for this one.

Grade: Incomplete, but impressive

Gary Payton II

17 minutes, 14 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 6-for-9 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, +18

I don’t have words for what GP2 just did. He played some of the best on-ball defense I have seen in my life, was active on offense in both the halfcourt and transition, and threw down some truly hellacious dunks.

I’m very glad that he, and not Avery Bradley, is on the Warriors.

Grade: A+

Wednesday’s inactives: Chriss Chiozza, Klay Thompson, James Wiseman