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The Golden State Warriors fell apart in the second half on Monday night against the LA Clippers. After a very impressive first half, the extremely shorthanded Dubs saw their double-digit lead evaporate, and eventually turn into a double-digit deficit, finally culminating in a 114-101 home loss to a Clippers team they’re trying to stave off in the standings.
Let’s take a quick look at some grades for the players. 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 Monday’s games, league-average TS was 57.9%.
Draymond Green
31 minutes, 4 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, 4 fouls, 1-for-5 shooting, 1-for-5 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 34.0% TS, -18
Like most of the Warriors, Green played fairly well in the first half and not so well in the second half. He brought good energy, and his defense on Kawhi Leonard was solid. But he was a non-factor scoring the ball, and his nice passing when largely negated by his poor passing.
Grade: C
Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists, worst plus/minus on the team.
Al Horford
27 minutes, 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 fouls, 5-for-11 shooting, 4-for-8 threes, 3-for-5 free throws, 64.4% TS, -15
Horford’s 17 points were his second-highest total in a Dubs jersey, and his third time in the last four games scoring in double figures. With Trayce Jackson-Davis traded and Kristaps Porziņģis having only suited up once for the Warriors, I really don’t know what they’d do without Horford.
It wasn’t a flawless game by any stretch of the imagination, but he played well on both ends of the court. He was at the center of a brilliant defensive first half.
Grade: A-
De’Anthony Melton
27 minutes, 7 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 4 fouls, 3-for-14 shooting, 1-for-7 threes, 25.0% TS, -16
Not much to say about this one. Melton has been awesome for the last two months, but he was not awesome in this game. Not even remotely close to awesome. He just couldn’t buy a bucket, and couldn’t penetrate LA’s defense enough to set him teammates up, either.
Grade: D+
Moses Moody
25 minutes, 10 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 4-for-12 shooting, 2-for-8 threes, 41.7% TS, -1
Moody had a very strong defensive game, and a pretty poor offensive game. I still want to see him rebounding more, and being more aggressive with the ball in his hands. But he has greatly improved at sliding into the passing lane on the perimeter to increase both the quantity and quality of his three-point shots. But in all, the Warriors just needed quite a bit more.
Grade: C
Brandin Podziemski
37 minutes, 22 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 9-for-18 shooting, 3-for-6 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 58.3% TS, -13
Podz was nothing short of brilliant in the first half, when he fueled the team’s offense. He had 20 points in the opening act, and was the primary facilitator as the Dubs scored 56 points, while also playing strong defense.
It came crashing down in the second half, though, when he got shut down. He was held to two points in the back half of the game, and really couldn’t get anything going on offense for his teammates. A tale of two halves.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.
Malevy Leons
6 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 0-for-1 shooting, 0.0% TS, -2
Steve Kerr inserted Leons into the lineup late in the third quarter when everything was going horribly for Golden State. It was an attempt to throw something at the wall, and while it didn’t stick, you can hardly blame Leons for that. He mostly ended up playing in garbage time.
Grade: B-
Gui Santos
31 minutes, 5 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 2-for-8 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 31.3% TS, -5
If anyone was wondering whether Santos was playing hard for a contract and would ease up once he got paid, well … we have our answer, and it’s “no.” You wouldn’t know that Santos had just inked a three-year, $15 million contract by his effort level.
The Clippers got the best of him on many possessions, and made it very hard for him to score. But he made a strong impact in defense, and an even stronger impact on the glass.
Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds.
Quinten Post
12 minutes, 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 4-for-8 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 56.3% TS, +5
Headband Post! Now that’s a look I wasn’t expecting. It didn’t turn him into a deadeye shooter, but he did play well in his limited stint. Sure, he air-balled a three, but he also played pretty decent defense.
Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Best plus/minus on the team.
Nate Williams
22 minutes, 18 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 5-for-8 shooting, 3-for-4 threes, 5-for-6 free throws, 84.6% TS, +1
Well hello there, Nate Williams! After making his Warriors debut on Saturday, Williams played a critical role on Monday, and was one of the team’s best players, despite it being just the 49th game of his career. He was Golden State’s best shooter, and most aggressive offensive option. I certainly did not see that coming, but it was awesome.
Grade: A+
Pat Spencer
21 minutes, 9 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 3-for-8 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, 50.7% TS, -1
A little bit of a hot-and-cold game for Spencer. He struggled to create separation and clean looks, so he wasn’t much of a factor scoring. But he quarterbacked the offense well, and dished out five assists while turning the ball over just once. His defense wasn’t good, but it was fine.
Grade: B
Monday’s inactives: Jimmy Butler III, LJ Cryer, Seth Curry, Steph Curry, Gary Payton II, Kristaps Porziņģis, Will Richard