Player grades: Warriors vs. Heat

Assessing every Golden State player’s performance from the team’s 114-98 loss to Miami.

The Golden State Warriors lost to the Miami Heat on Tuesday night by a score of 114-98. It was, to be frank, an embarrassing loss. The Dubs were rested and at home. The Heat played a double-overtime game the night before and were without Jimmy Butler. And it wasn’t competitive.

I’m going to make the grades very quick tonight, because I’m tired and a bit annoyed at the Warriors. And because you want grades, not me rambling and ranting about the team.

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 Tuesday’s games, league-average TS was 57.4%.

Andrew Wiggins

25 minutes, 9 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 4-for-10 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 45.0% TS, -7

With Jonathan Kuminga sidelined for at least three weeks, the Dubs are simply going to need more out of Wiggins. It’s been a good year for him, but they need more energy, more aggression, and more output. He’ll need to look for his shot more, attack the rim and earn free throws more, and hit the glass more. Unfortunately that didn’t happen tonight.

Grade: C-

Draymond Green

27 minutes, 7 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 3-for-9 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, 37.1% TS, -9

Far from a perfect Draymond game, but I thought he was one of exactly three Warriors who played decently. He had some excellent moments on defense, and helped the Warriors stay competitive on the glass. Most impressively, given how much the team has struggled in this area, was his 10 assists to just one turnover. Very inefficient scoring night though, like almost everyone on the team.

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

Trayce Jackson-Davis

35 minutes, 19 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 9-for-12 shooting, 1-for-1 free throws, 76.4% TS, -15

One of TJD’s best performances of the season. He almost single-handedly got the Warriors back in the game in the third quarter. And, while Bam Adebayo still had a very nice game (as All-Stars tend to do), Jackson-Davis played more than 35 minutes without committing a single foul. He’s really growing before our eyes!

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

Dennis Schröder

29 minutes, 5 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 2-for-10 shooting, 1-for-7 threes, 25.0% TS, -13

I still think Schröder was a great addition and will really help the Warriors.

I still think Schröder was a great addition and will really help the Warriors.

I still think Schröder was a great addition and will really help the Warriors.

I just have to repeat it to myself a few times after games like this one.

Grade: C-

Steph Curry

33 minutes, 31 points, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls, 11-for-22 shooting, 8-for-17 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, 69.1% TS, -10

A very odd statistical anecdote: this was the second straight game in which Curry had exactly seven rebounds, zero assists, and four turnovers.

Obviously that’s not good (other than the rebounding part), but it’s pretty easy to overlook on a night where he was almost the entirety of the team’s offense.

Curry scored 31 points; his teammates combined for just 67. He shot 8-for-17 from deep; his teammates combined to shoot just 6-for-33. Despite the fact that they forgot to come to the Chase Center, the Warriors almost had a chance to win this game, and Curry was the biggest reason why.

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

Kyle Anderson

27 minutes, 5 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 2-for-7 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 35.7% TS, -4

I said earlier that Green, Curry, and Jackson-Davis were the only Warriors who played decently, but that was probably unfair to Anderson. Slo Mo had a pretty good game, it’s just that the Warriors need more scoring than he can provide.

Grade: B+

Buddy Hield

24 minutes, 11 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 1 foul, 4-for-12 shooting, 2-for-9 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 42.7% TS, -7

The Warriors needed more from Hield offensively, and they’ll need more from him going forward. But he did a good job creating for teammates and crashing the glass. Poor shot selection, though.

Grade: B-

Moses Moody

15 minutes, 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 foul, 1-for-6 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 25.0% TS, -7

Normally you can count on Moody to at least bring some energy and intensity, but even that was bizarrely absent in this game.

Grade: D+

Lindy Waters III

19 minutes, 6 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 3-for-8 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 37.5% TS, -12

Waters definitely wasn’t the probably on Tuesday, but he definitely wasn’t the solution, either.

Grade: C

Gui Santos

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

Just a little bit of garbage time for Gui.

Grade: Incomplete
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus/minus on the team

Pat Spencer

3 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 1 turnover, 1-for-1 shooting, 100.0% TS, +2

And a little garbage time for Pat, too.

Grade: Incomplete
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus/minus on the team

Tuesday’s DNP-CDs: Kevon Looney

Tuesday’s inactives: Jonathan Kuminga, Gary Payton II, Brandin Podziemski, Quinten Post