Getty Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors let a win slip away against the Brooklyn Nets as a 17-point lead evaporated in the second half. But as frustrating as the January 22 120-116 loss was for Golden State, it didn’t come without a silver lining.
In just under 25 minutes off the bench, second-year forward Jonathan Kuminga scored 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting and grabbed 3 rebounds, earning the praise of teammate Draymond Green.
“Thought he did a really good job of playing under control and taking advantage of those mismatches,” Green said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “And then also defensively just hounding guys, like he’s been hounding the ball. It’s good.”
Green, a former NBA Defensive Player of the Year, said he was impressed with the young forward’s recovery from injury.
“He’s doing a really, really good job and picking up right where he left off before the injury,” he added.
Draymond has been impressed with Kuminga since his return from injury
Kuminga has made the most of his limited role with the Dubs this season. He’s appeared in 35 of Golden State’s 47 games, playing an average of 19 minutes per game. The former No. 7 overall pick averages 8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists while shooting 48% from the field and 27.7% from beyond the arc.
Stephen Curry Frustrated After Warriors Blow Lead to Nets
Green wasn’t the only member of the Warriors’ core who had some words after the loss. Star point guard Stephen Curry spoke to the media after the game and discussed the team’s frustrating season.
“Losing sucks, no matter what the reason is,” he said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “Losing is a terrible feeling and we hate it. Being 23-24 past the halfway mark of the season, we’ve experienced a lot of it. So, we need to bottle it up and do something about it. I feel like nobody’s letting go of the rope, nobody’s thinking that we can’t do it. Again, that’s our challenge, to not be in the situation where every other night we’re explaining why we didn’t get the job done.”
“Losing is a terrible feeling.”
Steph addresses the Dubs’ inability to consistently string together complete games
Last season’s Finals MVP defended the motivation and urgency embedded in his team, despite the lack of change.
“It’s high, we’re talking about it, we’re saying all the right things in the locker room,” Curry told reporters. “Our prep for the games and all that seems like we’re locked in. We understand that the moment is now to go on a run. But, we keep hitting these speed bumps and not taking advantage of how our guys played in Cleveland and moments like that, where you feel, like, all right this is our time to turn it up. And, you know, we’re right back in this position where you’re struggling to find any type of winning execution down the stretch over the course of just putting together 48 minutes. The sense of urgency is high. We just need to go do it.”
Steph shares that part of the Warriors’ struggles is due to a lack of “winning execution”