Player grades: Warriors vs. Pacers

The Golden State Warriors lost to the Indiana Pacers 125-119 on Wednesday night, falling to 2-13 on the road and dropping both games of a back-to-back. But our attention isn’t on the loss — it’s on the shoulder of Steph Curry. He’ll receive on MRI on Thursday after leaving the game in the third quarter.

It’s hard to think about the game too much, but we must grade it. As always, grades are weighted based on our expectations for each player, with a “B” representing the average performance.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a measure of scoring efficiency that accounts for three-pointers and free throws. Entering Wednesday’s games, league-average TS was 57.4%.

Draymond Green

27 minutes, 1 point, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 6 turnovers, 1 foul, 0-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 12.9% TS, +6

Green’s defense in the first quarter was absolutely phenomenal. It was a joy to watch. And after that, his game fell apart a bit, culminating in a fourth-quarter ejection after receiving two technical fouls.

Still and all, the defense was really good throughout. The rest, unfortunately, was pretty darn bad.

Grade: C-

Kevon Looney

21 minutes, 4 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 fouls, 2-for-5 shooting, 40.0% TS, -10

Looney wasn’t bad, but had a difficult time impacting the game. He didn’t start the second half, though that was less due to his performance and more due to Steve Kerr trying to find some mismatches to exploit.

He now has 79 assists to just 11 turnovers which is completely ridiculous.

Grade: C+

Steph Curry

30 minutes, 38 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 11-for-19 shooting, 5-for-10 threes, 11-for-11 free throws, 79.7% TS, -6

For much of this game, Curry was the only thing keeping the Warriors afloat.

He had 15 points in the first quarter — more than he had in the entire game when the Dubs played the Pacers last week. He had 27 points at halftime — as many as all of his teammates combined.

He looked destined for a 50-point triple-double while putting the team on his shoulders and leading them to a win when no one else looked up for the challenge.

And then he became the story for an entirely different reason.

Grade: A+/please be OK Steph, pleaaaaaaase

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

Donte DiVincenzo

38 minutes, 15 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 4-for-10 shooting, 3-for-6 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, 63.8% TS, +19

DiVincenzo got his first start of the season and was absolutely sensational. He was one of the few players other than Curry who actually showed up to play.

His energy has been a lifesaver for the team lately. You see it in transition, in the half-court offense, on defense, and when chasing down rebounds. He’s regularly keeping possessions alive, and finding teammates for good looks. And his shot is starting to fall!

It remains to be seen if the Warriors bench can become an asset, but if you wondered why the Warriors were interested in DDV this offseason, games like this should tell you exactly why.

Grade: A+

Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds, led the team in plus/minus.

Jordan Poole

33 minutes, 20 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 5 fouls, 8-for-22 shooting, 1-for-7 threes, 3-for-3 free throws, 42.9% TS, +5

20/5/5 is nice. Bad efficiency/lots of turnovers/rough defense is not.

Grade: C-

Jonathan Kuminga

24 minutes, 9 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-13 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 32.4% TS, +2

After Curry and DiVincenzo, Kuminga brought the most energy in this game. His defense was pretty solid, and he attacked the glass wonderfully. He had a few poor decisions on offense, but overall I thought his shot selection was a lot better than his efficiency would indicate. He just missed shots, and was bothered a bit by Myles Turner and Jalen Smith.

Grade: B-

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

JaMychal Green

19 minutes, 15 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 4-for-4 shooting, 3-for-3 threes, 4-for-6 free throws, 113.0% TS, -5

Green was pretty awful in the first half, but the second half was the best basketball we’ve seen him play since donning a Dubs jersey. With his fellow Green ejected, JaMychal took over in the fourth quarter, raining in three after three while providing tremendous amounts of energy on the glass and defense.

The veteran used to be a sensational three-point shooter, but he entered the game just 8-for-41 from distance. A 3-for-3 night must have felt great.

Grade: A

Anthony Lamb

12 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-2 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 50.0% TS, -18

There are some days where Lamb looks like a role player revelation, and some days where he looks like a player who hadn’t received a spot in an NBA rotation until this year for a reason.

Wednesday was the latter.

Grade: C-

Ty Jerome

13 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-2 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 50.0% TS, -20

Similarly, Jerome did not look like a player that the Warriors will be rushing to find more minutes for, or convert to a guaranteed contract. He was a non-factor. Well, actually he was just a negative factor.

Grade: C-

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

Moses Moody

23 minutes, 13 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 5-for-6 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, 100.9% TS, -2

The Warriors probably still want more from Moody, as he remains fairly passive. He doesn’t rebound much, and while he doesn’t make many mistakes on defense, he’s not much of an impact player, either.

But when he hangs around and makes almost all of his shots, while also taking care of the ball and making a few nice passes, they’ll happily take that.

Grade: A-

Wednesday’s DNPs: Patrick Baldwin Jr.

Wednesday’s inactives: Andre Iguodala, Ryan Rollins, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, James Wiseman