Player grades: Warriors vs. 76ers

The Golden State Warriors lost on the road again, which wasn’t surprising. They’ve been awful on the road this year, and on Friday were facing the surging Philadelphia 76ers, led by Joel Embiid and James Harden ... all while missing all three of their All-Stars from a year ago, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins.

It ended up being an impressive effort by the Warriors JV squad, but they ultimately lost 118-106. So let’s grade the fine chaps who donned Dubs jerseys, weighting for our expectations. As always, a “B” grade represents the average performance that we expect from a player.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is an efficiency metric that accounts for three-point shooting and free throws. The league average entering Friday’s games was 57.5%.

Jonathan Kuminga

29 minutes, 7 points, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 3-for-8 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 43.8% TS, -8

Kuminga is a player who is a better rebounder than the stats indicate, as he does a lot to keep balls alive and box out players while teammates grab the ball. But against Philly he had a donut in the rebound department, and it felt fitting. That’s inexcusable.

He was also pretty passive on offense. On the one hand, that’s understandable given that Joel Embiid is arguably the best defensive center in the NBA. On the other hand, Kuminga is an offensive liability when he’s passive and settles for threes.

I was impressed by his defense. The Warriors put him on James Harden, and while The Beard certainly ate, Kuminga made life difficult for him, without fouling.

Grade: C+

Kevon Looney

26 minutes, 14 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 3 fouls, 6-for-8 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 78.8% TS, -4

What an awesome game by Looney. A Jordan Poole missed jumper in the closing minutes kept Looney from having the first triple-double of his career, but that shouldn’t change our perception.

Looney has taken every possible opportunity this year to show people that he’s not just a system player who thrives when playing next to Curry and Green. And he did all this against Joel Embiid!

What a stud.

Grade: A+

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

Klay Thompson

35 minutes, 12 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-17 shooting, 3-for-8 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, 34.4% TS, -9

If the Warriors want to bank any wins while Curry is sidelined, they need Klay to show up in a big way.

Unfortunately, Klay did not show up in a big way on Friday.

Grade: D+

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

Donte DiVincenzo

35 minutes, 17 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 6-for-13 shooting, 5-for-8 threes, 65.4% TS, -4

DiVincenzo set the tone for the Warriors early, making five triples in the first quarter, including the first five that he attempted. His scoring cooled off considerably after that, but his energy and impact on the game did not. He was flying around everywhere in this game, which he’s been doing a lot lately.

He’s quickly becoming a Poole/GP2-esque player in that he’s good enough to be starting ... which is a weapon when he comes off the bench, and a luxury when he’s forced into the starting lineup.

Grade: A

Jordan Poole

37 minutes, 29 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls, 10-for-20 shooting, 4-for-9 threes, 5-for-6 free throws, 64.1% TS, -9

I don’t think Poole’s assist numbers accurately depict how strong of a job he did setting up teammates in this game. He was in control of the offense for so much of the game, keeping the engine humming, getting his teammates good looks, and then, in the second half, punishing Philly’s defense with a barrage of rim attacks and three-point splashes.

Really good game for JP.

Grade: A-

Post-game bonus: Led the team in points, tied for the worst plus/minus on the team.

JaMychal Green

11 minutes, 1 point, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers, 1 foul, 0-for-2 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 17.4% TS, -1

Green was always unlikely to play a huge role in this game due to the Embiid factor. But when he did see the court he did tremendous work attacking the glass. He couldn’t find his offense — 1 point and 3 turnovers is ugly — but 8 rebounds in 11 minutes is ridiculous.

Grade: B

Anthony Lamb

19 minutes, 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 2-for-6 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 50.0% TS, -6

One thing I’ll say from the broadcasts this week: both Van Gundy brothers really like Lamb.

He was pretty mediocre in this game, and was a bit trigger-happy with a three-point shot that has been regressing hard, but smart coaches seem to like him.

Grade: B-

Patrick Baldwin Jr.

1 minute, 0 points, 0 plus/minus

Just a tiny bit of garbage time for the rook.

Grade: Incomplete

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

James Wiseman

11 minutes, 6 points, 4 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 3-for-5 shooting, 60.0% TS, -7

It’s pretty clear that Wiseman’s teammates aren’t used to playing with him. On just the second possession that he was on the court for, after the Warriors got a stop Wiseman busted down the court, beating everyone to the other side. Ty Jerome never looked up to see him, and Wiseman went unrewarded for his hustle. A few errant passes early on never made their way to the big man.

Later on they started to find rhythm, which culminated in a nasty alley-oop pass from DiVincenzo that Wiseman slammed down.

There were good signs. The screens were quicker and stronger. He got one blatant illegal screen that reminded me of when I was in high school and someone advised me, “rebound more and more illegally until you get called for it, then you know where to dial it back.” I almost felt that Steve Kerr might have asked Wiseman to get an illegal screen for that reason.

His veteran teammates were stoked for him. His defense looked better, though he was, predictably, wildly overmatched by Embiid.

Grade: B

Ty Jerome

19 minutes, 9 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 foul, 4-for-10 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 45.0% TS, -6

Another Van Gundy favorite. Jerome has been struggling lately but looked good in this game. Not the most efficient, and he missed some open teammates, but he kept the offense moving.

Grade: B+

Moses Moody

16 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1-for-4 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 37.5% TS, -6

Not a bad game for Moody, but an entirely forgettable one. That seems to be the norm lately.

Grade: C+

Ryan Rollins

1 minute, 2 points, 2 rebound, 1 block, 1 turnover, 0-for-1 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 53.2% TS, 0 plus/minus

Just a few possessions of garbage time, but Rollins managed to put up a lot of different stats!

Grade: Incomplete

Friday’s inactives: Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Andrew Wiggins