Steph Curry, Draymond Green rated in Warriors win over Mavericks

Wow. Has everyone taken a deep breath yet? If not, I encourage you to do so now. The early favorite for the game of the season — not just for the Dubs, but perhaps for the entire NBA — just played out in front of you, where the Golden State Warriors best Dallas Mavericks 120-117 in a game that had theater (the lead changed hands countless times), stakes (it was the first tournament game of the season for both teams) and emotion (it was Klay Thompson’s return to the Bay Area). If you didn’t love watching that game, I don’t know what to tell you other than to start looking around for a new sport to follow.

It’s hard to do that game justice or to unlock any kind of objective analysis, but the players did their job, so now I have to do mine. It’s time to grade the 11 Warriors who took the floor Tuesday night (the rotation was temporarily trimmed after Kyle Anderson experienced neck spasms shortly before tipoff). As always, grades are based on my expectations for each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance of that player.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a measure of scoring efficiency that takes into account threes and free throws. Entering Tuesday’s games, the league average TS was 57.3%.

Draymond Green

31 minutes, 11 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 2 fouls, 3-for-6 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 70.9% TS, +18

Draymond’s offensive performance in this game was mighty impressive. He dictated the offense with brilliant passes, collecting six dimes without a single turnover. He continued to look oh-so comfortable shooting threes, pushing his season mark to 16-for-35 and his two-year mark to 67-for-164. He pushed the Warriors to get out in transition, where they excelled.

But that was his defense. Oh god, it was his defense. Age and the emergence of Victor Wembanyama may have ended the chances of Draymond winning another Defensive Player of the Year trophy, but on Tuesday we were reminded that when he’s locked in, he’s still just as good a defender, as exists in the NBA.

He made himself present early; when Kyrie Irving and Luka Dončić wanted to beat their man off the dribble, they usually settle for difficult off-balance shots instead of challenging Green in the paint. He had an early highlight that brought the team momentum, blocked a three, jumped out of bounds to save the ball and ignited a fastbreak where De’Anthony Melton made a layup.

But it was at the end of the game where Draymond really showed himself. Everyone will remember Curry’s storm in the waning moments, but what Green did on the other side of the court was just as important. In three possessions, Draymond drew a charge against Daniel Gafford, blocked a Gafford shot and shut down Gafford so tightly that Thompson was forced to make an impossible pass, throwing the ball away in the process. This shutdown defensive performance allowed Curry’s offense to shine and the Warriors escaped with a win.

Grade: A+

Trayce Jackson-Davis

14 minutes, 8 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 3-for-5 shooting, 2-for-6 free throws, 52.4% TS, +4

Jackson-Davis didn’t get to play a huge role in this game, but he certainly took advantage of the minutes he got. He had a brilliant first quarter, bringing so much energy to the half court offense while also getting down court in transition. I thought it was an exceptional defensive game from him and he worked on the glass. TJD out-rebounded every Mavericks player despite playing just 14 minutes, which was a big part of Golden State securing a 50-40 advantage on the glass.

Grade: A-

Andrew Wiggins

34 minutes, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 3-for-8 shooting, 0-for-3 threes, 2-for-4 free throws, 41.0% TS , +16

Wiggins started the game with the unenviable task of guarding Dončić. And I thought, especially in the beginning, he did a great job on the Mavericks superstar, even if Luka was still putting up numbers – as he always does.

I thought Wiggins’ defense fell off a bit as the game went on, but it was still a quality performance on that end of the court. Dončić could have scored 31 points, but he needed 27 shots to get there, rarely got to the free throw line and turned the ball over five times. You want to live with that every day, and while the entire Warriors team gets credit for that job, Wiggins gets the most credit.

He didn’t do much elsewhere on the pitch. He was mostly a non-factor on offense, and wasn’t as aggressive down the glass as we’d all like to see from him. So I would say that these matches cancel out the strong defensive play and result in an average performance.

Grade: B

Steph Curry

35 minutes, 37 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls, 14-for-27 shooting, 5-for-12 threes, 4-for-5 free throws, 63.4% TS , +24

The driving factor behind Golden State’s 9-2 start to the season has been their depth. But this was an old-school game for Curry — a throwback to the days when the Dubs dominated when he was on the court and tried to hang on for dear life when he was on the bench. Golden State outscored Dallas by 24 points in Curry’s 35 minutes … and was outscored by 21 points in the 13 minutes he rested. Sometimes plus/minus is a silly stat, and sometimes it accurately tells the story; for Curry on Tuesday, it’s emphatically the latter.

Curry put the team on his back all night. He chipped in with 12 points in the first quarter, countering stellar performances from Dončić and Irving, making sure the Warriors didn’t come up short as they soaked up the momentum of Klay’s return. In the third quarter, which the Warriors won by 11 points to turn a deficit into a lead, Curry exploded and led the team on a 16-0 run.

But nothing compares to the fourth quarter, when Curry went on a 10-0 run all aloneto turn what felt like a loss into a victory. A run that included a go-ahead layup, a dagger three and a night-night celebration.

And even after the run ended on a three by Dallas, Curry chipped in with two more points on late-game free throws to help put the game away.

He was the best player on the field on Tuesday, and it wasn’t close.

Grade: A+
Bonus after the game: Led team in points and assists; best plus/minus on the team.

De’Anthony Melton

26 minutes, 14 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 6-for-12 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 58.3% TS, +14

As was the case with Wiggins and Dončić, Melton had the difficult task of guarding Irving, and while Kyrie got his numbers, I thought Melton did a good job. Irving had a very efficient night, shooting 8-for-13 from the field, but it was almost entirely a case of good offense beating good defense, as almost all of his buckets were on the far end of the hard shooting spectrum. And like Dončić, he turned the ball over five times.

Melton also had one of the biggest plays of the game, with a steal on one end followed by a three on the other end, cutting a seven-point deficit to just four points with under five minutes remaining. It was a turning point in the game, starting a 15-5 run to end the game.

He is finding his groove and Warriors fans can quickly see how good he is.

Grade: A-

Jonathan Kuminga

27 minutes, 16 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 6-for-11 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 2-for-4 free throws, 62.7% TS, -3

Kuminga was quietly the Warriors’ second-leading scorer in this game, and also one of their most efficient scorers. That feels important on a night where the Warriors offense played beautiful, movement-oriented basketball. Kuminga may be the team’s second-best isolation scorer, but he’s also learning to thrive in the system. Shooting 40% on threes certainly helps!

He also got to guard Dončić quite a bit and I thought he did a quality job there.

Grade: B+

Kevon Looney

15 minutes, 5 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 2-for-5 shooting, 1-for-2 free throws, 42.5% TS, -9

At some point in the last few years, Looney transformed from a decent rebounder to a comical one. And this was a case of exactly that. Looney grabbed 11 fun rebounds in just 15 minutes.

To put it in more digestible terms, Looney played 3.1% of the total minutes played in this basketball game and he grabbed 12.2% of the total rebounds. He and Jackson-Davis combined for 20 rebounds — half of Dallas’ team total — in just 29 combined minutes.

As is often the case, Looney did his job on the offensive glass, with a staggering nine of his boards arriving on Tuesday. He’s now fourth in the NBA in offensive rebounds, a mark that looks downright hilarious when looking at minute allocations:

Ivica Zubac: 48 offensive rebounds in 385 minutes
Jakob Poeltl: 46 offensive rebounds in 384 minutes
Nikola Jokić: 45 offensive rebounds in 381 minutes
Kevon Looney: 44 offensive rebounds in 161 minutes

He has more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds, but that doesn’t mean he’s a slouch at the latter. He just tends to shut out his man and let a teammate grab the board while attacking the more chaotic options on offense. What a great player.

Grade: B+

Buddy Hield

21 minutes, 14 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals, 6-for-13 shooting, 2-for-8 threes, 53.8% TS, -21

Hield played a little recklessly in this game. He got away with it: he had no turnovers or fouls, and while he didn’t shoot with high efficiency, he didn’t shoot with terrible efficiency either.

Still, his quick trigger on offense and struggles on defense were quite evident in this game.

Grade: C-
Bonus after the game: Worst plus/minus on the team.

Gary Payton II

7 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 0-for-1 shooting, 0.0% TS, +4

GPII didn’t play much in this game, which may seem surprising given the three-headed perimeter monster that the Mavericks offense possesses. He probably would have played a bigger role if everyone else hadn’t done such a good job on Thompson, Dončić and Irving, who finished with a combined 74 points but didn’t do it at outrageous efficiency and had 12 turnovers against 15 assists. .

Grade: C

Moses Moody

12 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 41.0% TS, -15

Not Moody’s best game, but he really locked down defensively and brought a whole lot of intensity to both ends of the court. We even saw a large dose of emotion from him at one point, which is not the most common occurrence!

Grade: B-

Brandin Podziemski

17 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 2 fouls, 1-for-2 shooting, 1-for-1 threes, 75.0% TS, -19

Podziemski has struggled quite a bit lately. It’s not really something to worry about – after all, he’s a second-year player and plays with a face mask on – but at the moment it’s starting to cost him minutes. In his last two games, he’s combined for just three points, two rebounds and two assists while playing slightly worse defense than we’ve gotten used to with him.

Nothing to worry about unless you are heavily invested in his characters.

Grade: C-

Klay Thompson

33 minutes, 22 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 5 fouls, 7-for-17 shooting, 6-for-12 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 61.5% TS, -1

It was great, if very emotional, to see Thompson back in the Bay Area, wearing another team’s jersey. And it felt like a twist on old times as he knocked down three after three in big moments.

More than anything, though, it was clear that Thompson made the right choice. He looked grateful and excited to be back, but not sad or upset. He seems happier and more engaged in a new team than he has been in the last few years. He embraced the opportunity to go up against Green and Curry, and you could see in all their eyes and performances how much they wanted to beat each other.

I miss seeing him in a Warriors jersey, but it’s good to see him playing well and seemingly happy.

Grade: A+

Tuesday’s DNPs: Gui Santos, Lindy Waters III
Tuesday’s inactive: Kyle Anderson, Reece Beekman, Quinten Post, Pat Spencer