Andrew Wiggins, Steph Curry rated in Warriors win over Hawks

The Golden State Warriors got back in the win column Wednesday night, using a 24-2 first-quarter run to build a big lead they would never give back, beating 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 some momentum before going on the road.

It was a good win, which means the players played well. But we still have to rate them! 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 threes and free throws into account. Going into Wednesday’s games, the 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 sharply at himself. He called his performance, which featured six turnovers, “terrible” and took the blame for the loss.

That accountability and anger over the loss seems 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 brakes 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 ones you live with rather than the kind that made Steve Kerr break clipboards.

It was an All-Star-level performance, and also a comeback game for him as his newfound streak of being an excellent shooter from distance hit a little bump in the road.

He’s still a star, folks.

Grade: A
Bonus after the game: 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 think Waters will be replaced in the starting lineup at some point. He’s started in place of De’Anthony Melton, which I think is largely to preserve rotations, but with the news that Melton will undergo season-ending surgery, I expect someone else to be the starting shooter for the majority of the season.

But Waters held that assignment Wednesday, and Kerr put a lot of faith in his young shooter’s defense, opening up Waters for Trae Young. And my goodness impressed Waters. Maybe it was his knowledge of Young from their days as high school teammates, or maybe 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 helps). Youngsters rarely got a clean look and rarely looked pleasant.

Just excellent work from Waters, who is also shooting 41.7% from three point range this season. He may not hold his spot in the starting lineup, but I think even with Melton’s injury, the Warriors will still use a 12-man 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 jump 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 it wasn’t TJD’s fault.

Grade: A-
Bonus after the game: 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 yes. Ohhh yes. That’s the good stuff. This was everything the Warriors dream of with Wiggins. Decisive and aggressive attack without possession. Transitional athletics. Infinite energy attacks the glass. Lockdown defense on and off the ball.

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

Grade: A+
Bonus after the game: 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 great fun when Curry decides to play conductor instead of taking a small number of shots with hyper-efficiency and instead uses his gravity to open up the lane for his teammates and then play chess against the defense’s pieces to make those teammates look good.

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

There’s just no one who likes him, and he played more in control than the five turnovers 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 find all sorts of ways to make a positive impact, but it’s hard to focus too much on that when he tried to force action in the 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 certain before game time whether Looney would play or not after he missed Monday’s game with an illness and still felt sick. He played, but certainly didn’t look his best. The Warriors had another rough night at the free throw line, which looks much, much better if you take away Looney’s donut (the rest of the team shot 12-for-15), and he just looked a little 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 entered his sixth game of the year and his first since the loss to Cleveland 12 days ago. Hopefully the Warriors can do a better job of hanging on to those 30-point leads so there’s more garbage time for Santos to play in.

Grade: Incomplete

Kyle Andersen

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, it’s not a shot at his bad…um… shooting … but rather a testimony to his defense. It seemed like every time a Hawk dribbled near him, Anderson just took the ball away. It was like watching a child play sports with their little sibling. Thoughts and prayers for those ball dealers.

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 nice passes.

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 big role in the late first quarter explosion in which the Dubs went on a 24-2 run and never looked back. He largely disappeared in the second half, not scoring a single point. Overall, it was a below average game for him, but I give him an average grade because of how much he started 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 only played six minutes because of the tight calf that landed him 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 were not required. Either way, he made a strong impression in his short stay, cutting relentlessly and helping rattle the aforementioned run by the Dubs. He is a threat 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 stated that Moody might be the most sensible player to take Melton’s place in the starting lineup long term. I stand by that, but it doesn’t seem like a very good bet when he plays the way he did on Wednesday. Just not an impactful performance by Moody, who was ice cold on offense, a step behind Atlanta on defense and really couldn’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 in the face, only recently having the mask removed after suffering a broken nose before the season. He was in tons of pain and left the game, and it was fair to assume the worst. Fortunately, his MRI came back negative and it was announced that he is day-to-day.

That’s good news. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much the only good news that came from Podziemski on Wednesday, as he really struggled, forcing the issue a bit on offense.

Grade: D+

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