Player grades: Warriors vs. Raptors

The Golden State Warriors are cooking, picking up their 15th win of the season on Sunday in just 17 games after beating the Toronto Raptors 119-104. It was another brilliant performance by Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, who reminded fans that the Dubs’ offense is more than just Steph Curry.

It was also a game that felt in the Warriors control from the opening tip to the final buzzer. So let’s grade the players, weighting them for our expectations of them.

Draymond Green

32 minutes, 4 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, +24

It’s fun seeing Draymond’s role change on a game-by-game basis. Sometimes he’s more aggressive scoring, sometimes he’s more focused on being a playmaker, and sometimes he doesn’t do too much of either, but just helps the ball move around and dictate the offense. It was a bit of the latter two in this game.

Steve Kerr called him the best defensive player in the world after this game. It’s a refrain we’ve heard many times, and it feels true every time it’s said.

Grade: A

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

Andrew Wiggins

33 minutes, 32 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 12-for-20 shooting, 6-for-8 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, +30

If you slipped into a coma six years ago and just woke up to watch this game, your first thought would probably be, “Andrew Wiggins lived up to the hype!”

He was thoroughly dominant on Sunday, getting to his spots with ease, knocking down shot after shot, playing strong defense, and looking genuinely unguardable.

Awesome.

Grade: A+

Post-game bonus: Led the team in plus/minus.

Kevon Looney

26 minutes, 7 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 3-for-4 shooting, 1-for-4 free throws, +25

Looney will never be a player who’s consistently making highlight reels, but if you’re a fan of basketball that wins you games, his entire game deserves to be on a highlight reel. His defense was spectacular, his rebounding was strong, he scored efficiently and whipped out some dimes, and made barely any negative plays.

Grade: A+

Steph Curry

37 minutes, 12 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 1 foul, 2-for-10 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, 7-for-7 free throws, +19

There isn’t another team in the NBA that sells out to slow down Curry like Toronto. Did Nick Nurse’s strategy work? Perhaps. Curry had an awful shooting night, but the attention he received made the offense flow so much better for every other Warrior.

Did Curry have a good game? No. Did he still provide a tremendous amount of value? Yes.

A win is a win.

Grade: C+

Post-game bonus: Led the team in assists.

Jordan Poole

31 minutes, 33 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 turnovers, 5 fouls, 10-for-13 shooting, 8-for-11 threes, 5-for-6 free throws, +14

Poole had 33 points on 105.5% true-shooting. If you want to know just how rare that is, Steph Curry has had 30 or more points on 105% or better true-shooting once in his entire career. Klay Thompson has also done it exactly once. Kevin Durant has never done it.

Yes, Poole had five turnovers, and yes, he benefitted from Curry’s gravity.

To that I say: who cares? It was an unreal performance.

Grade: A+

Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.

Nemanja Bjelica

4 minutes, 1 point, 1 rebound, 0-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, -6

Seeing Beli only play four minutes was definitely bizarre, but he was listed on the injury report before the game. He was still able to fire up a shot a minute though, which is impressive. Not making them is less impressive.

Grade: C

Jonathan Kuminga

8 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 0-for-1 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, -13

Kuminga deserves credit for not getting the tunnel vision and trigger-happy shot selection that plagues most rookies. It wasn’t a game where he made an impact, but it’s good to see him not doing the kind of things that make a coach shake their head.

Grade: C+

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

Otto Porter Jr.

22 minutes, 15 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 5-for-11 shooting, 5-for-9 threes, -8

This looked like the Porter that we saw during the preseason. He was quite a weapon, and with Bjelica and Andre Iguodala combining for just four minutes and one point, that weapon was needed.

The Warriors bench really struggled, but Porter did his part.

Grade: B+

Juan Toscano-Anderson

18 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1-for-3 shooting, 0-for-1 threes, -2

Really great to see JTA get some minutes. For a while he looked out of the rotation (and perhaps would have been in this game if Bjelica were doing better), but it’s nice to see the rotations change based on the game.

And Toscano-Anderson is just solid. Feels like you can count the amount of mistakes he makes in a season on one hand.

Grade: B

Damion Lee

8 minutes, 2 points, 1 block, 3 fouls, 1-for-1 shooting, -2

One thing I’m perpetually impressed with is Lee’s ability to scale up or down his role. When the team needs an electric bench scorer, there’s Lee, fitting into the Jordan Clarkson mold. When they need someone to do the little things and the intangibles, there’s Lee, reporting for duty.

He didn’t get asked to do much on Sunday, and he fouled a lot, but was otherwise quite solid.

Grade: B-

Moses Moody

2 minutes, 0 points, -2

Uninteresting garbage time for the No. 14 pick.

Grade: Incomplete

Chris Chiozza

20 minutes, 11 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 4-for-9 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 1-for-1 free throws, -4

Seeing Chiozza get to play a big role, even with Curry on the court, was fun. Kerr has a brutal job trying to find minutes for everyone, so it’s always a joy when players at the back of the bench get big minutes — especially when they play well!

Chiozza kept the ball moving, knocked in some shots, and played solid defense.

Grade: B+

Sunday’s inactives: Jeff Dowtin, Andre Iguodala, Gary Payton II, Klay Thompson, James Wiseman