The Golden State Warriors lost only their third game of the season on Monday night, losing 102-99 to the LA Clippers. They were doomed by a terrible first half of basketball, where they trailed by 11 points at the half, meaning their comeback wasn’t quite enough. The Dubs completely erased LA’s lead late in the fourth but ran out of steam, albeit only just as they got two good looks at tying the score in the waning seconds.

But the shots weren’t falling, and so another loss is added to the column. They may only have three so far, but two have come against a Clippers team still without Kawhi Leonard. Make of that what you will!

And while you’re doing that, I’m assessing the players. As always, the grades are based on my expectations for each individual player, with a “B” representing that player’s average performance.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency measure that takes into account threes and free throws. Going into Monday’s match, the average TS in the league was 57.3%.

Draymond Green

32 minutes, 9 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 6 turnovers, 3 fouls, 3-for-7 shooting, 2-for-3 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 57.1% TS, -3

Draymond Threen’s resurgence from beyond the arc continues! I won’t bore you by posting his three-point stats after every game, but we’re definitely coming from the small sample size area.

Besides a few triples, Green had some mesmerizing passes in this game, and probably should have gotten a lot more assists…except it was one of those nights where the shots weren’t falling.

Ultimately, the main reason the Warriors played in the game was their defense. And the biggest reason they lost the game was their turnovers. And Green was probably the player most responsible for both of those things, so… call it equal, I guess?

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

Lindy Waters III

29 minutes, 6 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 foul, 2-for-6 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 50.0% TS, -4

There’s an alternate world where Gary Payton II realizes that Steph Curry’s last-second pass wasn’t meant for him, and he steps aside to let Waters catch it. Waters was in one of his favorite spots, with his feet on the ground and his momentum heading towards the ring. Maybe he would have played the hero, sent the game to overtime and helped the Dubs win the game there.

Or maybe he would have missed it. After all, basic mathematics says that this is most likely.

Anyway, Waters continued his funny rotation trend: start or don’t play. Fortunately for him, that was the case on Monday, and he acquitted himself gracefully. He was very active in all phases of the match and had some nice defensive plays. It wasn’t a particularly remarkable performance, but it was pretty solid for a player who shouldn’t even be in the oversized rotation.

Grade: B+

Trayce Jackson Davis

20 minutes, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 1 foul, 4-for-5 shooting, 0-for-2 free throws, 68.0% TS, -11

It was a tale of two stints for TJD, who had the unenviable task of holding it as the lone center against Ivica Zubac, with Kevon Looney missing the game due to an illness.

Jackson-Davis struggled mightily in the first quarter. He couldn’t offer much offensively, couldn’t slow down Zubac and didn’t make an impact. But his stretch in the second quarter was one of the best basketball games we’ve ever seen from him, as he was a terror on both ends of the court. That was great to see.

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

Andreas Wiggins

29 minutes, 22 points, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 turnover, 7-for-12 shooting, 2-for-4 threes, 6-for-8 free throws, 70.9% TS, -5

Like almost all of his teammates, Wiggins in the first half and Wiggins in the second half were dramatically different players. While his defense against James Harden was okay, his offense was pretty terrible in the first half. He seemed to miss the shots he should have made, and he stood around a lot.

But the second half was a huge change. Wiggins was by far the team’s best non-Curry scorer, attacking relentlessly and cashing in at a rapid pace. He cut again and again and converted those cuts into layups and free throws.

It was still a strange match for Wiggins. It seemed like he was just floating into attack during possession when he wasn’t scoring, as evidenced by the lack of assists. He also seemed fairly uninterested in rebounding, and his defense came and went.

But the Warriors would have been eliminated without that burst of offense in the second half, and that counts for quite a bit.

Grade: B

Steph Curry

32 minutes, 26 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block, 3 turnovers, 1 foul, 10-for-21 shooting, 6-for-15 threes, 61.9% TS, -5

I don’t really know what to think of Curry’s game. He was downright terrible in the first quarter, and not much better in the second. He set the tone (in a bad way) with some turnover numbers in the first quarter, and was just pretty sloppy.

And then he was absolutely electric in the third quarter, nearly dragging his team to a win they didn’t deserve. He made huge shots down the stretch. And in the aforementioned alternate reality that we never get to see, he might even have assisted in game binding (though of course it’s worth noting that in the factual In reality, Curry missed a three-way tie).

Curry is far from the main reason the Warriors lost, but in a season defined by depth, this was a game they wouldn’t win without Curry playing like an MVP, and he was “only” very good.

Grade: B
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.

Jonathan Kuminga

19 minutes, 12 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover, 5-for-10 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 1-for-4 free throws, 51.0% TS, +2

A bit of a strange game from Kuminga. He did some great things, including a few plays where it clearly clicked for him to be aggressive. He made some key things happen on defense and was pretty solid on that end of the floor all night.

Yet I said earlier that turnovers were the biggest reason the Warriors lost. The next reason? Free throws. Golden State shot a pitiful 9-for-19 from the charity stripe, while the Clippers shot a respectable 16-for-18. Considering Golden State lost by three points, I probably don’t need to tell you how important those numbers are, and Kuminga was the team’s worst offender.

Kuminga gave the Dubs some of their finest moments in the match, but at the risk of appealing to authority, there is also a reason he only played 19 minutes.

Grade: B-

Kyle Anderson

13 minutes, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 fouls, 1-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 25.0% TS, -2

It might be time to put the whole Kyle Anderson shooting threes thing to bed.

He’s still a great all-around player, but those jumpers were pretty painful to watch in this one.

Grade: C

Friend Loved

23 minutes, 8 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 2 fouls, 3-for-7 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 57.1% TS, +5

Not to put too much pressure on Hield’s shoulders, but it’s certainly easier for the Warriors to win without a second star next to Curry when Hield has his scoring explosions. Unfortunately, he didn’t really have one in this game.

He had a strong spell in the first quarter to score some points when the team desperately wanted them, but didn’t produce much after that. He also had one of the worst plays of the game: After the Warriors overcame a 15-point deficit to tie the game with seconds left in the third quarter, Hield fouled Amir Coffey with a off balance three at the buzzer. Between the play, the subsequent three free throws (which Coffey made), and the stoppage of play (a review took place to ensure the foul occurred before the buzzer and to confirm it was a three), the Warriors seemed to lose. most of the momentum they had gained.

On the plus side, he was on the court during some of the team’s best stretches, and I think his seriousness as a shooter had at least something to do with that.

Grade: C-
Post-game bonus: Best plus/minus of the team.

Gary Payton II

12 minutes, 0 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 foul, 0-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 0.0% TS, +3

I’m sure there will be fans who blame Payton for catching the end-of-game pass intended for Waters. Waters is definitely the player you’d rather shoot a three at the buzzer, and I’m sure GPII would be the first person to tell you that.

I don’t blame him for that game at all, though. There were a few seconds into the game, it was a broken play, he was open and the ball came straight to him. You can’t expect someone to know exactly where their teammate is in that situation and withdraw from the game.

But while in my view he is completely absolved of blame for that game, he is not completely absolved of blame for the rest of the game, which was fairly mediocre. He played great defense, as expected, but his offense was a bit tricky and he didn’t have an easy time influencing the game.

Grade: C+

Moses Moody

16 minutes, 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 fouls, 2-for-4 shooting, 1-for-3 threes, 62.5% TS, +3

It was a strange match for Moody. He and Kuminga were the two players who I thought actually played well in the first half, but they didn’t in the second half. Moody’s scoring looked good – he had a great, aggressive approach to the hoop – but he seemed to be a step behind in other parts of the game. He made some uncharacteristically bad passes and seemed to just stand on defense for long periods of time.

This was the second time this year that Moody had at least three turnovers in a game, having done so only three times total in its first three seasons. Part of that comes from him being more aggressive and taking on a bigger role in the offense, and those are good things. But a big part of his success comes from not making mistakes, so it’s a bit concerning.

Grade: C

Brandin Podziemski

16 minutes, 1 point, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 1 foul, 0-for-4 shooting, 0-for-2 threes, 1-for-3 free throws, 9.4% TS, + 2

One compliment to Podziemski: It doesn’t matter if his teammates show up looking like they’re stuck in the mud, Podz will always bring the energy. And he certainly brought that to this match, although it’s not enough to make me overlook the cheeky attempts to score. However, he was a threat on the glass and played some pretty decent defense.

Grade: C

Monday’s DNPs: Quinten Post, Gui Santos
Monday’s inactives: Reece Beekman, De’Anthony Melton, Pat Spencer