Player grades: Warriors vs. Pacers

Well then.

The Golden State Warriors played a basketball game on Thursday night. That’s about the best thing that I can say about the team, or what transpired at the Chase Center.

The Dubs lost to the Indiana Pacers 121-117 in overtime, and while that in and of itself is not awful, the Warriors were at home. And rested. And the Pacers were playing the second game of a road back to back. And missing Domantas Sabonis. And Myles Turner. And Malcolm Brogdon. And Caris LeVert. And T.J. Warren.

So yeah. It was bad. Really bad. Worst loss of the season, and I’m struggling to think of a game that came close.

But enough of this preamble. I gotta get these grades over with so we can stop thinking about this poopy diaper of a game.

As always, grading based on expectations. Most people did not live up to expectations. Shocking, I know.

Jonathan Kuminga

15 minutes, 5 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 5-for-6 free throws, -16

Kuminga has earned the starting role in Draymond Green’s absence, but he hasn’t yet earned the starter minutes, as he mostly just played at the start of the first and third quarters. He did some good things, especially in the first quarter, what he was super aggressive getting to the free throw line, which is something he’s been great at lately.

His defense wasn’t very good in this game, and that was a part of why the third quarter got off to a disastrous start. But all in all, it was a decent game for him.

Grade: B

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

Andrew Wiggins

38 minutes, 11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 5 fouls, 5-for-15 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, 0-for-1 free throws, -10

Pretty awful game all around for Wiggins, honestly. He struggled all night to get good looks, and couldn’t convert the ones he got. His defense was quite good in the first half, but deteriorated a bit in the second half, which the Warriors can’t withstand when Draymond is out.

Grade: D+

Kevon Looney

28 minutes, 13 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 5 turnovers, 3 fouls, 5-for-6 shooting, 3-for-4 free throws, -9

Looney had an inexcusable number of turnovers, on a night when the team committed a ghastly 21 of them. Other than that though, it was a stellar game from him, as he took advantage of Indy’s lack of size by scoring efficiently and gobbling boards.

Grade: A-

Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.

Steph Curry

44 minutes, 39 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 12-for-27 shooting, 6-for-16 threes, 9-for-9 free throws, -4

It was the Steph and Looney show, and honestly, that was it.

It felt like Curry was more efficient than his final line, which is primarily because the rest of the offense was so awful that Curry had to repeatedly try and bail them out with seconds left on the shot clock. That Curry did all that while only having a pair of turnovers — an amount that was matched by four teammates and surpassed by two — was impressive.

Just a super solid game for him, on a night where those were very hard to come by.

Grade: A-

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

Klay Thompson

23 minutes, 12 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 6-for-17 shooting, 0-for-7 threes, -4

Probably Klay’s worst game since returning. A few of these are expected, so I don’t want to give him a super harsh grade, especially since there were good takeaways — he shot 6-for-10 inside the arc, for example. But his jumper wasn’t falling, and he wasn’t doing much of anything else.

Grade: C

Nemanja Bjelica

14 minutes, 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 4-for-5 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, +7

I would have loved to see the Warriors turn to Bjelica more, as he had a nice game. He was aggressive, with all of his makes coming near the basket. And he was aggressive rebounding the ball as well.

He’s really locked into that 10-15 minute range, and this is a game where the team would have benefitted from playing him a bit more.

Grade: B

Andre Iguodala

31 minutes, 4 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls, 1-for-2 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, +16

I didn’t expect to see Iguodala play this many minutes often this year, but you can see why Steve Kerr trusted him so much. The team played much better when he was on the court, and he was one of the most active Warriors by far. The quartet of turnovers is rough, but just as many blocks? Yeesh!

Grade: B

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

Juan Toscano-Anderson

15 minutes, 5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, 2-for-5 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, +1

JTA has had some stretches where he’s struggled with not turning the ball over. A pair of turnovers isn’t awful, but given his limited minutes and role, it’s the kind of thing that can help these nights go sour quickly.

Grade: C

Damion Lee

14 minutes, 9 points, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 3-for-5 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, +2

Lee scored decently, and didn’t really do anything else. Pretty bad defense for him in this game.

Grade: C

Gary Payton II

17 minutes, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 foul, 3-for-5 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 0-for-1 free throws, -2

If nothing else, GP2 provided us with the greatest moments in this game.

In an otherwise useless game, this was great.

Grade: B+

Jordan Poole

25 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 fouls, 1-for-7 shooting, 0-for-5 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, -1

In a game where the Warriors seemed to turn the ball over on every possession, JP being turnover free, while dishing out a handful of assists, was a bright spot. Unfortunately, it was the only bright spot he provided.

Grade: C-

Thursday’s DNPs: Chris Chiozza, Moses Moody

Thursday’s inactives: Draymond Green, Otto Porter Jr., Quinndary Weatherspoon, James Wiseman