Steph Curry, Jordan Poole graded in Warriors Game 6 loss to Kings
There’s only one word to use when describing the Golden State Warriors 118-99 loss to the Sacramento Kings in Game 6 of their first round series: pathetic. You can add a qualifier if you’d prefer. Majorly pathetic. Wildly pathetic. Extremely pathetic. Inexcusably pathetic.
But pathetic it was. The Dubs squandered an opportunity to close out the series, and will instead need to travel back to raucous Sacramento and win on the road ... or be eliminated. I’m already excited for Sunday, but also terrified.
Until then, let’s grade the players from Game 6. I’ll make this quick because none of us want to spend any more time dwelling on this [redacted]show.
As always, grades are weighted based on my expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the average performance for that player.
Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. League-average TS this year was 58.2%.
Kevon Looney
27 minutes, 7 points, 13 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 3-for-6 shooting, 1-for-2 free throws, 50.9% TS, -19
As he has for most of the series, Looney comfortably outplayed Domantas Sabonis. But that was more a result of Sabonis having a crappy game (which Looney certainly contributed to) than Looney having a great game.
Looney’s offense has been great this series when the team’s has been. But it struggled in this game with the Dubs not finding any rhythm. Can’t blame him for that: his role is not to get the offense going, but capitalize when it is.
Good rebounding, per the usual, but not as good of defense as we’ve seen from him earlier in the series.
Grade: B-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.
Andrew Wiggins
33 minutes, 13 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 4 fouls, 5-for-13 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 3-for-6 free throws, 41.6% TS, -7
There were a million reasons why the Warriors lost. But if you wanted to distill it to three reasons, they are: they shot just 31.3% on threes; they shot just 71.4% on free throws; and they had 18 turnovers. Wiggins was a big part of those first two issues, but one of the only players on the team who didn’t contribute to the latter issue.
The Warriors also lost because of bad defense, and Wiggins was at times a part of the problem and at other times a part of the solution.
Just a weird game. I can’t say he played well, but there were times where he was doing crucial things.
Grade: C+
Steph Curry
36 minutes, 29 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers, 2 fouls, 9-for-21 shooting, 5-for-12 threes, 6-for-9 free throws, 58.1% TS, -16
Just a weird performance from Curry. On the one hand, with the team fighting in the fourth quarter to stay in it, Curry was the one player reliably giving an effort and putting in buckets.
On the other hand, he waited way too long to turn it on, and just felt off all night. He turned the ball over so many times. He missed three free throws!
He’s still a star but I think he’ll be the first to tell you that wasn’t the Steph we know and love.
Grade: C+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.
Klay Thompson
35 minutes, 22 points, 2 rebounds, 3 turnovers, 3 fouls, 8-for-20 shooting, 2-for-9 threes, 4-for-4 free throws, 50.6% TS, -28
There sadly was no Game 6 Klay in this one. I’m not sure Game 6 Klay would have been enough to overcome such a disastrous game by everyone else but ... it sure would have been nice.
Instead, he just had a pretty bad game.
Grade: C-
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.
Jordan Poole
26 minutes, 7 points, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 2-for-11 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 2-for-4 free throws, 27.4% TS, -14
Not really much to say here. You all watched it. This was one of the worst games of Poole’s career. He was taking ill-advised shots and missing them, and then taking more. I’m truly shocked he only had one turnover because his decision-making was so poor.
I think it’s probably safe to say that he won’t be starting on Sunday.
Grade: F
Draymond Green
26 minutes, 4 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, 5 fouls, 1-for-2 shooting, 2-for-2 free throws, 69.4% TS, -13
Green was one of the Warriors best players ... when he was on the court. Unfortunately, he got into foul trouble almost immediately after coming in off the bench. And he finished a foul shy of fouling out, despite only playing 26 minutes.
The Warriors will need him to play the level of defense that he played on Friday, but without the foul trouble, if they want to win on Sunday. And they might need some of the points that he offered up on Wednesday, too.
Grade: B-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.
Jonathan Kuminga
4 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 turnover, 0 +/-
A lot of fans are calling for Steve Kerr to give Kuminga a chance in this series, which he mostly hasn’t had (he only played in garbage time in this one). I understand the complaints, though I also understand why he hasn’t. It’s not a good matchup, unfortunately.
Grade: Incomplete
JaMychal Green
4 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 0.0% TS, 0 +/-
Also just garbage time for Green, save for one possession where he came in for the final seconds to space the floor.
Grade: Incomplete
Anthony Lamb
4 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 0 +/-
And garbage time for Lamb, who showed some energy.
Grade: Incomplete
Gary Payton II
10 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 0-for-1 shooting, 0.0% TS, -8
Not a very good GPII game. He hasn’t been super effective in this series, despite Sacramento having a bunch of perimeter scorers. Part of that has been a lack of opportunity, as Kerr has opted for more offensive lineups than defensive ones. But Payton also just hasn’t been a difference maker.
Grade: C
Donte DiVincenzo
18 minutes, 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 1-for-5 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 5-for-6 free throws, 52.4% TS, +5
I liked what DDV did on offense with his aggression. The Warriors were a little too passive (OK, fine, a lot too passive) but he did a lot of work driving to the hoop and in transition. His defense was pretty good and disruptive too.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in plus/minus.
Moses Moody
16 minutes, 9 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 foul, 3-for-6 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 65.4% TS, +5
Well folks, you made it to the end of the article, just to reach the one bright spot: Moses Moody. Moody played excellently. He was aggressive but measured on offense, played tough defense, and arguably had more energy than the rest of the team combined.
I’m guessing he’ll play a big role on Sunday. They need more of this:
Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the team lead in plus/minus.
Friday’s inactives: Patrick Baldwin Jr., Andre Iguodala, Ryan Rollins
Source: Golden State of Mind
