Player grades: Warriors vs. Hawks

Assessing every Golden State player’s performance in the team’s 120-97 win over Atlanta.

The Golden State Warriors got back in the win column on Wednesday night, using a 24-2 first-quarter run to build up a big lead that they would never give back, and beating the Atlanta Hawks 120-97. With the win, the Warriors moved to the top of the Western Conference standings with an 11-3 record, and built up a little momentum before heading on the road.

It was a good win, which means the players played well. But we still have to grade them! As always, grades are based on my expectations for each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance for that player.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. Entering Wednesday’s games, league-average TS was 57.3%.

Draymond Green

28 minutes, 9 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-8 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 50.7% TS, +29

After Monday’s loss, Green pointed the finger squarely at himself. He called his performance, which featured six turnovers, “awful,” and took the blame for the loss.

That accountability and anger at the defeat seem to have motivated Draymond, as he was the best version of himself on Wednesday. His defense was nothing short of elite: not only did he put the clamps on Atlanta’s top-10 offense, but he created defensive plays that led to easy offense. His passing was brilliant ... even the three turnovers were generally the ones you live with, rather than the sort that lead Steve Kerr to break clipboards.

It was an All-Star level performance, and also a throwback game for him, as his newfound string of being an excellent marksman from distance hit a slight bump in the road.

He’s still a star, folks.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists, best plus/minus on the team.

Lindy Waters III

20 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 4 fouls, 4-for-9 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 55.6% TS, +16

I do think that Waters will at some point be replaced in the starting lineup. He’s been starting in place of De’Anthony Melton, which I think is in large part to preserve the rotations, but with news that Melton will undergo season-ending surgery, I expect someone else to be the starting shooting guard for the bulk of the season.

But Waters kept that assignment on Wednesday, and Kerr put a whole lot of trust in his young shooter’s defense, having Waters open up on Trae Young. And my goodness did Waters impress. Perhaps it was his knowledge of Young from their days as high school teammates, or perhaps it was just digging deep and playing excellent defense, but Waters held Atlanta’s All-Star to just 12 points on as many shots, with three turnovers (albeit with 11 assists). Young rarely got clean looks, and rarely looked comfortable.

Just excellent work from Waters, who is also shooting 41.7% from three-point range this season. He may not keep his spot in the starting lineup, but I think that, even with Melton’s injury, the Warriors are still going to employ a 12-player rotation.

Grade: A

Trayce Jackson-Davis

22 minutes, 14 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 6-for-11 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 58.9% TS, +10

A very good TJD game. Against a tall, long, and athletic Atlanta squad, Jackson-Davis still managed to make sure his height, wingspan, and hops played, constantly getting lobs at the rim, while also disrupting a large number of shots, and gobbling up rebounds. He also made both of his free throws, which was an encouraging sight.

The Dubs lost the rebounding battle, but that was no fault of TJD’s.

Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.

Andrew Wiggins

30 minutes, 27 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 foul, 12-for-17 shooting, 3-for-6 threes, 79.4% TS, +27

Oh yeah. Ohhhh yeah. That’s the good stuff. This was everything the Warriors dream of with Wiggins. Decisive and aggressive offense with no ball-holding. Transition athleticism. Endless energy attacking the glass. Locked-in defense on and off the ball.

Wiggins was a beast in every phase of the game. 11/10, no notes.

Grade: A+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.

Steph Curry

30 minutes, 23 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers, 7-for-10 shooting, 4-for-6 threes, 5-for-5 free throws, 94.3% TS, +27

There’s nothing in basketball like a Curry explosion, but it’s always really fun when Curry decides to play conductor instead, taking a small number of shots with hyper-efficiency, and instead using his gravity to open up the court for his teammates, then playing chess against the defense’s checkers to get those teammates good looks.

Curry took just 10% of the team’s shots, yet his fingerprints were all over the offense, like a potent dual-action quarterback handing it off and pitching options all night long, and occasionally exploding for a big play.

There’s just no one quite like him, and he played more in control than the five turnovers would suggest. Also a really nice defensive game for him.

Grade: A

Jonathan Kuminga

15 minutes, 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 3-for-10 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 42.5% TS, +1

It wasn’t a very good scoring game for Kuminga, but it was a pretty solid all-around game, as he crashed the glass well, had a few nice passes, and created a lot of plays on defense. It’s good to see him finding all sorts of ways to have a positive impact, but it’s hard to focus on it too much when he tried to force the action on offense so much, and to great detriment.

Grade: C+

Kevon Looney

13 minutes, 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 foul, 1-for-2 shooting, 0-for-3 free throws, 30.1% TS, -4

It wasn’t sure until game time whether or not Looney would play, after he missed Monday’s game due to an illness and was still feeling sick. He did play, but certainly didn’t look his best. The Warriors had another tough night at the free throw line that looks much, much better if you remove Looney’s donut (the rest of the team shot 12-for-15), and he just looked a touch slow and out of rhythm.

Grade: D+

Gui Santos

3 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 0-for-2 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 0.0% TS, -3

A Gui sighting! Santos got into his sixth game of the year, and his first since the blowout loss to Cleveland 12 days ago. Hopefully the Warriors can do a better job of hanging onto those 30-point leads so that there’s more garbage time for Santos to play in.

Grade: Incomplete

Kyle Anderson

15 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 1-for-5 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 20.0% TS, +5

Anderson had one of those games that makes you wonder how NBA players ever score. No, that’s not a shot at his bad ... uhh ... shooting ... but rather a testament to his defense. It seemed that anytime a Hawk dribbled near him, Anderson just took the ball away. It was like watching a kid play sports with their toddler sibling. Thoughts and prayers to those ballhandlers.

Another rough shooting night — Anderson is now just 17-for-41 on twos and 8-for-30 on threes — but Slo Mo made up for it with some great passing.

Grade: B+

Buddy Hield

20 minutes, 11 points, 2 rebounds, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 4-for-11 shooting, 3-for-9 threes, 50.0% TS, +11

Hield was one of the stars of the first half, as he played a huge role in the late first-quarter explosion in which the Dubs went on a 24-2 run and never looked back. He pretty much disappeared in the second half, and didn’t score a single point. On the whole, it was a below-average game for him, but I’m giving him an average grade due to how much he jumpstarted the key stretch of the game.

Grade: B

Gary Payton II

6 minutes, 6 points, 2 rebounds, 3-for-4 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 75.0% TS, +7

I’m not sure if GPII played only six minutes because of the calf tightness that saw him land on the injury report, or if he only played six minutes because Waters and the rest of the crew did such a good job on Young that Payton’s defensive-specialist services weren’t required. Either way, he made a strong impact in his short stint, cutting relentlessly and helping rattle off that aforementioned run by the Dubs. He’s a menace at the rim!

Only six minutes, but a brilliant six minutes.

Grade: A

Moses Moody

19 minutes, 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 foul, 1-for-5 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 25.5% TS, -10

Before the game, I posited that Moody might be the most sensible player to take Melton’s spot in the starting lineup long-term. I stand by that, but it doesn’t look like a very good take when he plays the way he played on Wednesday. Just not an impactful performance by Moody, who was ice cold on offense, a step behind Atlanta on defense, and really didn’t find any areas of the game to make an impact.

Grade: D+

Brandin Podziemski

15 minutes, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-6 shooting, 1-for-1 threes, 25.0% TS, -1

The best part of Podziemski’s night came after the game ended. He took a big shot to his face, where he only recently had the mask removed after suffering a preseason broken nose. He was in tons of pain and left the game, and it was fair to assume the worst. Thankfully, his MRI came back negative, and it was announced that he’s day-to-day.

That’s great news. Unfortunately, it’s kind of the only good news that came from Podziemski on Wednesday, as he really struggled, and forced the issue a bit on offense.

Grade: D+

Wednesday’s inactives: Reece Beekman, De’Anthony Melton, Quinten Post