The Golden State Warriors survived a rough shooting night on Wednesday to come back for a hard-earned 110-106 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Here are three in-depth reactions from the Dubs' much-needed victory at Chase Center.
Warriors' turnover woes get worse early
The areas Steve Kerr continues to harp on most during the Warriors' tumultuous, disappointing start to 2023-24? Limiting turnovers, minimizing fouling and pushing the pace. Golden State certainly didn't accomplish that first goal on Wednesday night, completely unprepared for the Blazers' level of defensive pressure and all-around physicality.
The Dubs committed a whopping eight turnovers in an ugly first quarter versus Portland, a product of typical carelessness with the ball against a relentless young defense. Is it really all that surprising Stephen Curry lost his dribble while being hounded in the backcourt by a strong, rangy defender like Toumani Camara?
Draymond Green recently put the onus on himself to help juice the Warriors' barely-there transition attack. He made a pointed effort to do just that on Wednesday, but sometimes pitched the ball ahead or threw outlet passes to teammates who weren't in position to catch them.
Those miscues, at least, are something close to unforced. Chris Paul certainly knows better than to telegraph passes amid set plays, but paid the price for not acting like it as Matisse Thybulle slithered through a screen and picked off his pass while Golden State ran post split action.
No one is expecting the Dubs to rank among the league's lowest-turnover teams. Their read-and-react style doesn't allow for that type of tight ball security, especially when Curry and Green get aggressive trying to conjure their singular magic.
But many of Golden State's giveaways versus Portland didn't stem from overzealous creativity or missed communication, an issue this team has dealt with since the season tipped off in late October.
Jonathan Kuminga, odd man out…or not
Gary Payton II remains sidelined by a calf injury, the timeline for his potential return uncertain. The Warriors endured their rotational numbers crunch regardless against the Blazers, the return of Andrew Wiggins and Chris Paul giving them two more surefire rotation players.
Instead of going 10-deep to give every player who's proven he deserves regular minutes rotation burn, though, Kerr set out to play a nine-man rotation—at least initially. Jonathan Kuminga was the odd man out in the first half, stuck to the pine with Moses Moody, Chris Paul, Brandin Podziemski and Dario Saric serving as their team's lone reserves.
That changed just past the midway point of the third quarter.
As a frustrated Curry began personally willing Golden State to avoid an embarrassing home loss, Kuminga subbed in for the first time with the game clock reading 4:45, immediately making his presence felt. Dogged ball pressure from an amped-up Curry helped him jump the passing lane for an easy steal and dunk, then Kuminga bailed the Dubs out of a stagnant possession by bullying Shaedon Sharpe with patient footwork on the block.
The Warriors hadn't been able to consistently crease the paint all night, let alone get all the way to the rim and finish. It was easy for Kuminga from the moment he entered, whether from the post again after catching on the roll, raking and taking in the open floor or showing and going in the halfcourt.
Kuminga never got a breather after first getting off the bench, playing the last 16 minutes and 45 seconds of Wednesday's game. He didn't just score 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting, all at the rim, over that timeframe, but served as the primary defender of Blazers guard Anfernee Simons—playing a major role in Portland's failure to score from the field for over four minutes of crunch-time.
Golden State loses this game without Kuminga. He's definitely earned a spot in the rotation on Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and hopefully longer.
Draymond Green quietly dominates crunch-time
Green went scoreless as the Warriors finally wrested control of the action in the clutch. He didn't even take a shot. But Green's fingerprints were all over his team's come-from-behind victory regardless, serving as the two-way driving force behind its late-game success.
Golden State trapped Simons at times in ball-screen action during the game's last few minutes, daring anyone other than he and Sharpe to hit a shot or make a play. It worked mostly because Green was there as the Warriors' last line of defense in a losing numbers situation, goading misses, forcing passes and even creating turnovers.
Every possession matters in crunch-time. Prior to drawing a charge on Camara, Green got the Dubs an extra by reaching around a defender to knock Klay Thompson's missed triple off the legs of Portland, then found Wiggins under the rim for two off a pet baseline out-of-bounds play.
Four of Green's nine assists came in the game's last four minutes, but he should've had five. Wiggins, predictably, missed his initial try on that previously mentioned out-of-bounds play before tapping in his own miss.
Not all assists are created equal. The highest value ones? Passes that lead directly to layups and dunks, which describe Green's four dimes with the game on the line—none more significant than this naked hand-off lob to a soaring Kuminga that put Golden State up four with just over a minute remaining.
You'll be hard-pressed to ever find a more dominant clutch stint encompassing both sides of the ball that didn't involve scoring than Green's. Don't take his unique greatness for granted. What Green did late in the fourth quarter just isn't normal.
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