Player grades: Warriors vs. Blazers

It wasn’t the prettiest game of the season, but the Golden State Warriors rattled off their 21st win of the year on Wednesday night, beating a shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers team 104-94.

The Dubs played well enough, but barely anyone on the team could make an open shot, which kept the game a lot closer than it needed to be.

It’s kind of hard to grade players who don’t shoot well, but otherwise play solidly. We’ll give it a shot anyways. As always, grades are weighted based on our expectations for the players.

Draymond Green

32 minutes, 5 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 1-for-5 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 3-for-6 free throws, +6

Green has had improved scoring this season, both in terms of volume and efficiency, but that wasn’t the case on Wednesday. Everything else was up to par though, with the usual elite blend of defense, rebounding, and playmaking.

Grade: B+

Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds and assists.

Andrew Wiggins

33 minutes, 14 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 4-for-9 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, +2

I don’t really remember anything Wiggins did in this game. I don’t really even remember him playing!

Oddly enough, that represents a lot of growth for Wiggins, who is more comfortable being a glamor-less role player than he once was. Still, it would have been nice to get a bit more from him given how much the offense struggled at times.

Grade: B

Kevon Looney

18 minutes, 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 fouls, 5-for-8 shooting, 1-for-2 free throws, +13

Statistically, this was one of Looney’s best games of the year. And while there were some rough moments, I think it held up to the eye test, too.

Looney helped hold Jusuf Nurkić (who had 12 points on 14 shots) to a rough night, and capitalized on Steph Curry’s gravity to get some clean looks at the rim. He also took a few ill-advised jump shots, which has been a little bit of a trend lately, but when the defense and rebounding are firing, you take it.

Grade: A-

Steph Curry

33 minutes, 22 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, 8-for-19 shooting, 6-for-17 threes, +16

It was kind of an odd game for Curry. Within a few minutes it was clear that he wanted to take a shot at breaking the all-time three-point record at home ... which would require also breaking the single-game three-point record.

I think it’s safe to say that Curry was hunting the three-ball. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for the greatest three-point shooter in NBA history, but it didn’t make for his best work. Curry lived almost exclusively behind the arc, only attempting a pair of two-pointers (he made both), and no free throws. He wasn’t much of a distributor, and while there’s no such thing as a bad Steph Curry three, a few of them certainly missed bad.

And yet, the Warriors outscored the Blazers by 16 in Curry’s 33 minutes, and were outscored by 6 in the 15 minutes he rested. Because he’s Steph Curry, and that’s how it works.

Grade: B-

Post-game bonus: Led the team in points and plus/minus.

Jordan Poole

35 minutes, 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 5-for-14 shooting, 2-for-10 threes, 8-for-9 free throws, +6

Poole’s game was similar to Curry’s in many ways. A solid number of points, scored with a good number of misses from three-point range. A positive impact, but minimal stats other than points.

One exciting thing about JP’s game: the nine free throw attempts. Good things happen when he is aggressive.

Grade: B-

Nemanja Bjelica

20 minutes, 8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 3-for-9 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 2-for-3 free throws, -4

It’s a little odd to see Bjeli go 0-for-4 from distance, but it was a strong game for him otherwise. The highlight was one of the more fun plays in basketball: a big man to point guard alley-oop that he lobbed to Gary Payton II.

Grade: B

Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team

Otto Porter Jr.

26 minutes, 15 points, 6 rebounds, 1 turnover, 4-for-8 shooting, 4-for-6 threes, 3-for-3 free throws, +5

Porter is a good defender, a good rebounder, and a solid playmaker. But it’s the nights where he drops in the triples that make you remember why you were so excited about the Warriors signing him.

He was the only Warrior to shoot 50% or better on threes this game, and one of only two (along with Looney) to shoot 50% or better from the field. He was a weapon, scoring almost half of the bench’s 32 points.

Grade: A

Juan Toscano-Anderson

17 minutes, 3 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 1-for-4 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, +7

JTA’s slightly odd turnover problems continued in this game — after having just 17 turnovers in his first 19 games, he’s had 12 in his last five. The defense is reliable enough that you can live with the turnovers, but right now they’re the main difference between some decent games and some good ones.

Grade: B

Damion Lee

14 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 1-for-4 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, +2

Not much of note from Lee, who didn’t do much in this game, good or bad. Would like to see the fouls come down a little bit though.

Grade: B-

Gary Payton II

13 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 foul, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, -3

There was probably only one Warrior who was sad to be facing a depleted Blazers squad, and that’s Payton. If Portland were starting Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum instead of Dennis Smith Jr. and Nassir Little, GP2 probably ends up playing more than 13 minutes, and probably has a chance for a greater impact.

Grade: B-

Wednesday’s DNPs: Chris Chiozza

Wednesday’s inactives: Jeff Dowtin, Andre Iguodala, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, Klay Thompson, James Wiseman