Player grades: Warriors vs. Raptors

The Golden State Warriors recorded just their third road victory of the season on Sunday, beating the Toronto Raptors 126-110. It was perhaps the Dubs’ best performance of the year on the road, as they led comfortably for almost the entire contest, despite playing without the injured Steph Curry and Andrew Wiggins.

But the team — and Jordan Poole in particular — rallied together for a strong win.

So let’s grade them. As always, we’re grading based on our expectations of each player, with a “B” grade representing a player’s average performance.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a measure of scoring efficiency that accounts for three-point shooting and free throws. As of Monday, league average TS was 57.5%.

Draymond Green

37 minutes, 17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 7-for-15 shooting, 3-for-6 threes, 56.7% TS, +8

Basketball is funny. Prior to this game, Green hadn’t made three shots from beyond the arc in a game in 19 months. Then he made a three on the first possession of the game. And then he made a three on the second possession of the game. And then he made a three on the third possession of the game.

He ended up with 13 points in the first quarter, and while his offense slowed down after that, it set the tone for the game. The five assists undersell his playmaking, and just how much he helped Poole get good looks ... training camp stories be damned, those two are playing so well together.

Strong defense. Strong rebounding. Just a really good game from the team’s best player and leader when Curry is out.

Grade: A

Kevon Looney

28 minutes, 11 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, 3 fouls, 4-for-7 shooting, 3-for-3 free throws, 66.1% TS, +12

Another double-double for Looney! He’s playing perhaps the best basketball of his life, and he’s doing it in every phase. He’s scoring more than ever before, rebounding like a beast, defending very, and passing the ball exceptionally well.

Just a joy to watch.

Grade: A

Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.

Klay Thompson

35 minutes, 17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 6-for-14 shooting, 3-for-9 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 57.1% TS, +14

This was a pretty encouraging game for Klay. He wasn’t lights out shooting, but he was finding other ways to impact the game. He did a lot of dirty work with rebounds, defense, and loose balls, and had one of his better playmaking games of the year.

A good reminder that Klay isn’t just a three-point shooter who occasionally has a scoring explosion. Though he’s still awesome at those things.

Grade: B+

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

Donte DiVincenzo

33 minutes, 5 points, 1 rebound, 6 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls, 2-for-5 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 50.0% TS, +12

One silver lining of Curry’s injury is that DiVincenzo is getting to play starter’s minutes. It seems like it’s really helped him find his rhythm within the Warriors system on both ends of the court, and I’m looking forward to see how dynamic of a weapon he’ll be when he slides back to the bench as the team gets healthy.

Grade: B

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

Jordan Poole

35 minutes, 43 points, 1 rebound, 6 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 4 fouls, 14-for-23 shooting, 5-for-11 threes, 10-for-11 free throws, 77.2% TS, +11

Steve Kerr called this one of the best games of Poole’s career, and I don’t have anything profound to add to that. It was. It really, truly was.

And it was so much fun to watch. Poole controlled the offense, setting up teammates and keeping the defense off balance. He made Toronto pay every time they gave him any space, and he was relentless in attacking the rim for layups and free throws.

The total package, and the biggest reason the Warriors won.

Grade: A+

Post-game bonus: Let the team in points, tied for the team lead in assists.

Jonathan Kuminga

5 minutes, 2 points, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 foul, 1-for-4 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 25.0% TS, +6

I’ll be honest, I have absolutely no clue why Kuminga didn’t play more than five minutes.

Grade: Incomplete

JaMychal Green

17 minutes, 15 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 5-for-7 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 85.6% TS, +4

My goodness, Green, like DiVincenzo, is starting to find his rhythm, and finally looking like a strong offseason signing. He’s been a beast on the glass lately, with 20 boards in his last three games, despite playing limited minutes. His rebound rate of 14.8% would be 36th in the NBA if he had played enough minutes to qualify, ahead of players like John Collins, Karl-Anthony Towns, Myles Turner, and Zion Williamson.

And despite his three-pointer not falling (though it did in this game!) he’s been pretty efficient, as he now has a 59.0% true-shooting percentage.

Awesome stuff.

Grade: A

Anthony Lamb

15 minutes, 6 points, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 2-for-2 shooting, 2-for-2 threes, 150.0% TS, +4

The good: anytime you make 100% of your shots, and 100% of those shots are threes, that’s amazing.

The bad: Lamb just doesn’t seem to be providing anything right now beyond three-point shooting.

Grade: B-

Patrick Baldwin Jr.

2 minutes, 1 point, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 26.6% TS, -1

PBJ managed to put numbers in a lot of different stat columns in a short amount of garbage time.

Grade: Incomplete

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

James Wiseman

2 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, -1

After getting some real playing time on Friday, Wiseman was relegated to mop-up duty on Sunday.

Grade: Incomplete

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

Ty Jerome

18 minutes, 9 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 2-for-3 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 94.5% TS, +6

One of Jerome’s better games of the year. He didn’t try to do too much, and helped the offense flourish. He looked pretty comfortable scoring, dishing, and playing off ball, while holding his own defensively.

Grade: A

Moses Moody

11 minutes, 0 points, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, +6

Moody continues to avoid awful mistakes, but he just doesn’t do much at the moment. Of the 15 players who have taken the court for the Dubs this year, Moody is 11th in points per 100 possessions, 12th in rebounds, 14th in assists, 10th in steals, and 10th in blocks. In the last two games, he has three points, two rebounds, and two assists in well over 26 minutes.

The Dubs just need more from him.

Grade: C

Ryan Rollin

2 minutes, 0 points, -1

Nothing to note in the rookie’s garbage time.

Grade: Incomplete

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

Sunday’s inactives: Steph Curry, Andre Iguodala, Andrew Wiggins