Player grades: Warriors vs. Rockets

Assessing every Golden State player from the team’s 91-90 loss to Houston.

The Golden State Warriors lost a heartbreaker on Wednesday night, falling 91-90 to the Houston Rockets in the quarterfinals of the Emirates NBA Cup. It was one of the most tense and exciting games of the NBA season, and while the Warriors will spend a lot of time thinking about their 22 turnovers and the scoring drought that lasted the final three minutes, they’ll also spend a lot of time thinking about the refs ... and probably lose a fair amount of money in fines over it, too.

With the Warriors clinging to a 90-89 lead in the final seconds, Gary Payton II grabbed a missed Steph Curry three, and fell to the ground with the ball. He attempted to pass it to a teammate, and Jonathan Kuminga was called for fouling Jalen Green while fighting for the loose ball. Green made both free throws with 3.5 seconds, giving the Rockets the win.

Whether you’re pointing fingers at the inexcusable officiating or the lack of late-game execution, you’re probably angry and in fan pain right now. So am I. So let’s make these grades short. As always, grades are based on my expectations for each team, 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 57.5%.

Gary Payton II

18 minutes, 4 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 2-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 50.0% TS, -14

Payton nearly won the game with his offensive rebound in the final seconds. And many will say he should have just held the ball on the ground rather than attempt a pass, which is a very valid criticism.

It is a little ironic, though. Payton (who experience a lot more contact than Green did when the foul was called) likely through the ball away knowing that the refs always call a jump ball in that scenario, and he was unlikely to win that jump ball. And then, of course, the refs decided to not call the jump ball, in a tangle that Kuminga likely would have won.

Cruel game.

Payton played some amazing defense and crashed the glass hard. There were some sloppy plays, but it was mostly a really good game for him.

Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in rebounds, worst plus/minus on the team.

Jonathan Kuminga

36 minutes, 20 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 8-for-20 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 2-for-6 free throws, 44.2% TS, +2

The Warriors asked Kuminga to carry the brunt of the offensive load in this game ... arguably even more than they asked Curry to. He started out extremely aggressive, getting fouled on three possessions in the first handful of minutes, though he struggled with his free throws again.

It certainly wasn’t an efficient offensive game, but then again, it wasn’t for either team. And Kuminga deserves props for only having one turnover in such a sloppy, defense-oriented game, despite leading the team in minutes. He even saved a handful of possessions from turnovers ... on a night where it felt like the Warriors set the NBA record for shot clock violations, more than one of Kuminga’s misses came when he seemed to be the only player who realized the shot clock was about to expire, and hoisted up a circus shot to try and save things. Or when he was fighting on the glass.

Good defense, good energy. The efficiency will come.

Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points, tied for the team lead in rebounds.

Draymond Green

30 minutes, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers, 4 fouls, 4-for-9 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 44.4% TS, -2

Two things can be true. Green was the biggest reason why the Warriors had such a turnover-filled game, and Green might have had the single best individual defensive performance in the NBA this year. Even as the Warriors offense died down the stretch, it felt like they were going to win because it didn’t seem possible that the Rockets could score with Green on the court. Turns out the secret was to have a sixth player out there.

I’ll say the turnovers and defense cancel each other out.

Grade: B

Buddy Hield

35 minutes, 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 blocks, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 6-for-12 shooting, 3-for-9 threes, 62.5% TS, +9

The Warriors lost three of the four quarters. They nearly won because of the third quarter, which they won 32-24. Hield was arguably the best player on the court during that time, scoring 11 points and swinging the momentum.

He might never be a good defensive player, per se, but having five stocks certainly makes his work on that end of the court palatable.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Best plus/minus on the team.

Steph Curry

34 minutes, 19 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 8-for-17 shooting, 3-for-9 threes, 0-for-1 free throws, 54.5% TS, +4

A very odd game for Curry. On the one hand, it wasn’t his usual efficient outing; on the other hand, in a game where the Warriors couldn’t stop turning the ball over, Steph took care of the ball brilliantly.

In the fourth quarter, he had some of the biggest plays on offense, and also some clutch defensive possessions. But he also made a truly head-scratching decision. With less than a four-second difference between the game clock and shot clock, and the Warriors nursing a one-point lead, Curry opted for a dagger step-back three ... which he shot with nine seconds left on the shot clock.

Had Curry waited another seven or eight seconds, the ball would have been in the air long enough — both on the way to the hoop and ricocheting off of it — that the clock likely would have expired before Houston got a shot off. Just a really poor decision.

Grade: C
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.

Lindy Waters III

28 minutes, 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 3-for-6 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 66.7% TS, -3

Waters was thrust into a big role in this game, and he played it quite well. He was on the court for a huge stretch in the fourth quarter, helping the team hold a lead until Curry and Green returned from the bench. His shot came back in this game, and his defense was strong, though he had some reckless turnovers as well.

Grade: B+

Brandin Podziemski

31 minutes, 8 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 3-for-9 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 44.4% TS, +4

Not a perfect game by Podziemski by any stretch of the imagination. But he was in the closing lineup, and he was in the closing lineup for a reason. His energy was, at times, a game changer. And like Kuminga, some of his misses were desperation shots to try and save the team ... including a blocked three at the buzzer that I sure as hell would like to see another angle of.

Grade: B-

Kevon Looney

11 minutes, 2 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 foul, 1-for-3 shooting, 33.3% TS, -4

Looney didn’t get much run against a hyper-athletic Houston team, but damn did he once again do all sorts of work on the glass. Mr. Reliable.

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

Kyle Anderson

4 minutes, 0 points, 1 turnover, 0-for-1 shooting, 0.0% TS, -5

A small role for Slo Mo, in a game that just wasn’t quite suited to him.

Grade: C

Trayce Jackson-Davis

15 minutes, 4 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 1-for-1 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 106.4% TS, +3

I wasn’t sure that TJD would get any play in this game, after not playing in the last contest, and with Green once again starting at five. But Jackson-Davis ended up being just what the doctor ordered for a few of the lineups, and he showed off some explosiveness at the rim on both offense and defense. Needs to grab more rebounds, but I was impressed.

Grade: B+

Pat Spencer

3 minutes, 2 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1-for-2 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 50.0% TS, +1

Spencer got a few surprise minutes when the team was sinking and Kerr needed to find a button to press. And Spencer did exactly what he was supposed to, making some good plays and injecting a little offense into the team.

Grade: A

Refs

Even if you are OK with a loose-ball foul being called instead of a jump ball in that scenario (which you shouldn’t be), then surely you can agree that significantly more contact was dealt to Payton than Kuminga dealt to Jalen Green. And missing the foul on Curry’s three earlier in the quarter completely altered the direction of the game.

The Warriors lost primarily because they didn’t play well enough. But that doesn’t change the performance put forth by the refs.

Grade: F-

Wednesday’s DNPs: Gui Santos
Wednesday’s inactives: Reece Beekman, De’Anthony Melton, Moses Moody, Quinten Post, Andrew Wiggins