Player grades: Warriors vs. Rockets Game 4

Assessing every Golden State player’s performance in the team’s 109-106 win over Houston.

Well, I’m a little speechless. In the good way, that is. The Golden State Warriors scrapped and clawed their way to a 109-106 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference first-round series, securing a 3-1 lead as the series shifts back to Houston. It was a game with just about everything you could ask for: drama, intensity, chippiness, fights, emotion, and an outcome that came down to the very final seconds.

But the Warriors won, and that’s all that matters. So for their effort I give the team an A+ … but I still must grade the individuals. As always, my 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. League-average TS this season was 57.6%.

Buddy Hield

30 minutes, 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 fouls, 6-for-15 shooting, 3-for-9 threes, 50.0% TS, +17

Steve Kerr made a surprising move, and opted to put Hield in the starting lineup. The concern was that Kerr was over-reacting to Hield’s strong Game 3. But no. Kerr was clearly onto something, as Hield was a true difference maker.

It wasn’t Hield’s best scoring game, but, critically, he kept shooting and kept the ball moving, and kept moving without the ball. He put his offensive abilities and gravity to great use, even though the shots weren’t falling.

But more importantly, Hield played what I think was his best defensive game of the season. He thoroughly dominated Jalen Green early on, not just holding Green in check — the young guard had just eight points and five turnovers — but turning defense into easy, momentum-shifting offense.

Tremendous game. Jimmy Butler III might even have to say something nice about Buddy now.

Grade: A
Post-game bonus: Tied for the best plus/minus on the team.

Jimmy Butler III

40 minutes, 27 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block, 3 fouls, 7-for-12 shooting, 1-for-2 threes, 12-for-12 free throws, 78.1% TS, +2

At halftime, when I started drafting this article in my head, I was leading with the idea of not knowing how to grade players returning from injury. Butler didn’t look like himself in the first half. He wasn’t scoring much, wasn’t moving much, and seemed clearly impacted by the injury that surely would have sidelined him were it not such a serious game. I didn’t know how to balance the mediocre play with the toughness of playing through a compromising injury.

And then the second half happened. And the fourth quarter, in particular, when you wouldn’t know that Butler was injured save for the wincing after every collision. Butler had 14 points in the fourth quarter, which was more than half of Golden State’s total output. He took over defensively. He took over offensively. He was a literal second off of the team lead in playing time, despite being in obvious discomfort. And in a game that was ugly and chaotic, he somehow didn’t have a single turnover.

Just for good measure, in a series that’s nearly been defined by Houston’s offensive rebounding, Jimmy somehow out-muscled multiple Rockets to grab the game-clinching board.

Hero stuff.

Grade: A+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points and assists.

Draymond Green

31 minutes, 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover, 5 fouls, 2-for-7 shooting, 2-for-5 threes, 42.9% TS, +7

Draymond had a quality game, with some bad and a lot of good. He drained a pair of threes in the opening few possessions, but then didn’t score again. He had some smart offensive plays, but only grabbed two assists. He was spectacular on defense but was in foul trouble almost the entirety of the game, and was fortunate that he wasn’t ejected in the second quarter.

And then, with the game on the line, and his defense seemingly getting better with every possession, Houston had the audacity to challenge him. The Rockets trailed by one point with 13 seconds left, and called a timeout to draw up what they hoped would be the winning play.

I’ll admit that I don’t at all understand why they chose the play they did. Their best offense all series has been Alperen Şengün on the offensive glass, and they took that out of the equation. They didn’t even try to run a screen to get Şengün switched on a lesser defender, either. They just gave him the rock, 25 feet from the hoop, and let him go one-on-one against the defining defender of this generation.

It went exactly as you would expect. And while I know I’m supposed to grade based on expectations, that play alone is worthy of a perfect score for Green.

Grade: A+
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds, tied for the best plus/minus on the team.

Brandin Podziemski

40 minutes, 26 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 9-for-18 shooting, 6-for-11 threes, 2-for-3 free throws, 67.3% TS, +7

I’ve come to the conclusion that I want the Warriors to make the NBA Finals simply to see Podziemski on that stage. I’d say he doesn’t feel the pressure of the moment, but that would be a lie; the pressure seems to make him rise to a new level. He’s like a mini Butler!

Podziemski kept the offense afloat in the first half when the team couldn’t score, and he piled it on late when they desperately needed buckets. His toughness kept the Dubs alive on the boards, and he was a brilliant playmaker. He was just … spectacular.

Grade: A+

Steph Curry

39 minutes, 17 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 4 turnovers, 2 fouls, 6-for-13 shooting, 2-for-8 threes, 3-for-3 free throws, 59.4% TS, +12

Before I dive into Curry’s performance, let’s make something clear: Curry is the best player on the Warriors on every night, and almost always the best player on the court for either team. Even when he doesn’t have have his best performance, he’s the most valuable player on the team because of his gravity and control of the offense.

All of that is to say, Curry didn’t play all that well on Monday, but the Dubs would have gotten their ass kicked without him. That’s the type of talent that he is.

Unlike in Game 3, he couldn’t break free from Houston’s stifling defense. He wasn’t able to get good looks, and often couldn’t even get looks at all. He wasn’t able to set up his teammates with passes though, again, his gravity did.

Pretty decent defensive game, though.

Grade: C

Gary Payton II

16 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 1-for-3 shooting, 33.3% TS, -13

Well, Payton certainly didn’t play as well in this game as he did on Saturday. He wasn’t able to get anything going on offense this time around, though that was a function of the team’s offense as much as his own.

He did make some really good passes though, and his defense was solid.

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

Quinten Post

20 minutes, 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 4-for-11 shooting, 2-for-7 threes, 3-for-4 free throws, 50.9% TS, -10

Not a very good game for Post. He was able to find more offense in this game than in most of the other ones in the series, though he still couldn’t finish inside very well. Unlike in Game 3, when he got the start, Post really struggled defensively in this game. The look he gave on offense was important, but I was still surprised that Kerr let him stay on the court for this long.

Grade: C+/B-, I really can’t decide so I’m cheating and hedging and also giving you multiple grades to be upset about

Gui Santos

1 minute, 0 points, -1

Santos just got a short little stint in the first half to help fill minutes, but it didn’t last long.

Grade: Incomplete

Kevon Looney

5 minutes, 0 points, 1 rebound, 3 fouls, -5

Looney just wasn’t a good fit in this game. He wasn’t strong enough defensively to make up for the fouls and the lack of offense, and he wasn’t doing as much as we’re used to on the glass.

Grade: C-

Moses Moody

12 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1-for-6 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 25.0% TS, -8

Moody is having a hard time making an impact in this series, which is probably why his minutes have fallen off … and he’s been taken out of the starting lineup. His defense hasn’t quite been up to par, and he just isn’t able to get in any sort of offensive rhythm, or create much.

Grade: C-

Trayce Jackson-Davis

6 minutes, 0 points, 2 fouls, 0-for-1 shooting, 0.0% TS, -3

Well, I’ll be honest, I certainly did not have TJD getting meaningful playing time in this game on my bingo card. But once Green had to go to the bench early in the third quarter with five fouls, Kerr called Jackson-Davis’ number. It didn’t go all that well.

I can’t really blame Jackson-Davis, since he’s been out of the rotation for so long. But he looked in over his head a bit, though he had a few good defensive plays.

Grade: C+

Monday’s DNP-CDs: Braxton Key, Kevin Knox II, Jonathan Kuminga, Pat Spencer