Player grades: Warriors vs. Rockets

At long last, the Golden State Warriors are again victorious on the road. They held a narrow lead over the Houston Rockets for the bulk of their Monday game, before pulling away in the fourth quarter and winning 121-108, recording their first road victory since January.

Are there a million question marks with the team still? Of course. Did this give us any more confidence going into the final weeks? No. But is a win coupled with a Dallas Mavericks loss make for a good Monday? You bet your sweet butt it does.

Now let’s grade the players who got it done. As always, grades are based on my expectations for each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance for that individual.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. League-average TS is 58.1%.

Draymond Green

34 minutes, 8 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-4 shooting, 100.0% TS, +15

Not the most eventful Draymond game, but a pretty darn solid one. He was everywhere, doing a little bit of everything, and one of the few players who seemed committed to keeping the offense functioning without recklessly turning the ball over at every opportunity.

Funnily enough, his offense was a lot better than his defense in this game, which was a tad bit uninspired.

Grade: B+

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

Kevon Looney

24 minutes, 11 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 4-for-7 shooting, 3-for-6 free throws, 57.1% TS, +4

Looney went from questionable due to back soreness to playing half the game and recording a double-double. The dude just has absolutely no quit in him whatsoever.

Grade: A-

Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.

Steph Curry

36 minutes, 30 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, 10-for-23 shooting, 5-for-15 threes, 5-for-5 free throws, 59.5% TS, +5

Still a few turnovers that make you wanna pull a few hairs out. And not his best shooting game (but a reminder of how good he is that an inefficient game by his standards is still 30 points on well above league average efficiency). But it still felt like Curry was kind of just in control of this game. He started pretty passive, got his teammates going, and turned it on anytime the team needed him.

Solid quarterbacking.

Grade: B

Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.

Klay Thompson

37 minutes, 29 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 11-for-21 shooting, 5-for-13 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 66.3% TS, +13

I loved the way Klay started this game. He immediately went into attack mode, repeatedly looking for shots at the rim, be it off the dribble, while cutting, or getting out in transition. Only after he set that tone did he back out and start launching threes.

He’s also been committing himself to rebounding lately, which is a massive thing, especially given the indefinite absence of Andrew Wiggins. Just a great Klay game ... perhaps his best since Curry returned to the lineup.

Grade: A

Donte DiVincenzo

19 minutes, 5 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 1-for-6 shooting, 1-for-5 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 36.3% TS, 0 plus/minus

Bit of a rough game for DiVincenzo. His point of attack defense is pretty important for the Warriors with Wiggins and Gary Payton II out, and that showed itself with the steals. But other than that it was a bad game. He was very sloppy on offense, didn’t have the energy we’ve come to expect from him, and was ice cold shooting. He’s still having a stellar year shooting the ball, but he’s just 20-for-66 on threes in his last 11 games ... and 14-for-54 if you remove that amazing revenge game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Hopefully he can bust out of that slump soon.

Grade: D+

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

Jonathan Kuminga

26 minutes, 17 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 7-for-9 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 86.0% TS, +3

Here’s an awesome sign of Kuminga’s development. It used to be that I thought he played his worst against young, athletic teams. He was so reliant on his athleticism that he struggled when matched up with an opponent that could ... well ... match that.

Now I think he’s at his best against young, athletic teams like Houston. He’s become so skilled that he can use his athleticism to physically meet those opponents, and then his talent to downshift and speed past them.

He was an absolute difference maker in this game, as he’s been in most of the past few games.

Grade: A

JaMychal Green

13 minutes, 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2-for-5 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 40.0% TS, +4

Very solid game by Green. He may be a veteran, but he’s so athletic that he’s an asset against hyper-athletic teams like Houston. He was everywhere in his minutes.

Grade: B+

Anthony Lamb

17 minutes, 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 3-for-4 shooting, 3-for-4 threes, 112.5% TS, +8

Lamb was a little limited in this game because, unlike the last two names on this list, he’s not super athletic. But he is tough and gritty, does a lot of little things that help teams win, and was making it rain in this game.

Grade: A-

Jordan Poole

26 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1-for-8 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 28.2% TS, +13

Another awful shooting game for Poole, and there were a few possessions where he was, once again, too trigger happy.

But other than that? He played exceptionally well. He had some brilliant passes, but was in control, not turning the ball over often or making poor decisions. He controlled the offense, worked really well off ball, and I thought had a pretty strong defensive game.

Grade: B

Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.

Moses Moody

8 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 foul, 1-for-1 shooting, 1-for-1 threes, 150.0% TS, 0 plus/minus

A second straight game where Moody was ready and impactful after coming into the game. He didn’t get a lot of minutes, but he made the most of the ones he had.

Grade: A-

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

Monday’s inactives: Patrick Baldwin Jr., Andre Iguodala, Ty Jerome, Gary Payton II, Lester Quiñones, Ryan Rollins, Andrew Wiggins