2023 Denver — Jonathan Kuminga pulled his black sweater under his torso until it slid over his black pants. He then gradually donned a black and cream tooth hunting checkered trench coat.
I'm going to tell you the truth," the Golden State Warriors forward said, adjusting the sleeves of his trench coat until it fell perfectly. His demeanor and tone complement his outfit. Fluency. Sure.
When I have the ball," he continued, "no one can guard me. ”
Ambitious?Of course. But on this Christmas afternoon, located in Denver, it feels real. The Nuggets can't defend him, especially if they need to defend Stephen Curry.
After the first three quarters, Kuminga scored 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting. He shot 5-of-8 from the free-throw line and caught the Nuggets off guard.
But sometimes," Kuminga said, "I have to give up to make sure our veterans get the ball." That's where the confusion comes in. Sometimes, I walk off the field without knowing what I've done. This bothers me. It's like, 'What do they want me to do?''I can pass the ball, I can do different things on the pitch. ”
If it weren't for Curry's Christmas curse, the Warriors' winning streak would have reached six. Or Klay Thompson didn't score a 3-point shot on 1-of-6 three-pointers in the second half. Or Nikola Jokic didn't make 14 free throws in the second half.
Or rather, as crazy as they sound, they're not that esoteric.
"Strength in numbers" has always been the motto of the Warriors. Once again, their bench saved the starting line-up, keeping the game competitive when the starting line-up was in trouble. But on Monday, the Warriors lost 114-120, in part because they had too deep a roster.
It was so deep that Kuminga felt like he was about to break through, but kept hitting the glass ceiling. On Monday, he played just 3:35 in the fourth quarter.
For the Warriors, this is a problem because their best form is directly related to Kuminga's best form. When Kuminga is on the court and playing at his level, they are the most dynamic, modern and competitive, especially against the strongest teams in the West. He's the stylistic contrast the Warriors desperately need. He's their answer against leagues that know how the Warriors play. He's their answer to the players in the league who are athletic, tall, explosive, and can shoot and dribble.
Sometimes, the Warriors' basketball IQ and projection aren't enough. Sometimes, as evidenced by Kuminga, Blandin Podzemski, and Tress Jackson-Davis being introduced into the rotation, the Warriors just need speed against speed, bounce against bounce, and energy against energy.
In Monday's game, early in the fourth quarter, when Jokic rested, the Warriors made six consecutive offensive shots from three-point range. None of them were missed. In the time of 2:15, their only score was a layup after a steal by Podzemski. During that time, the Nuggets missed five of six shots and two turnovers, earning the Warriors a chance to take control of the game.
Andrew Wiggins has been one of the Warriors' fists since the 2021-22 season was crowned. One person is no longer enough. Even though Monday was one of Wiggins' better games, the Warriors found themselves shooting plenty of three-pointers in the fourth quarter, under pressure from the defense.
This is where Kuminga comes into play. With a defensive desire to limit Curry's offense and lead to an empty interior line, that's an opportunity for aggressive, offensive players. An overextended defense is vulnerable to pressure under the basket. But the Warriors don't have many players who can take advantage of that.
That's not Thompson's style of play. Point guard Chris Paul can attack the interior, but he's too small to consistently attack the basket. Podemski can too, and he's fit enough to finish offensively. He has excellent European step and layup skills.
But the best answer is Wiggins and Kuminga.
He's given us a huge boost," Curry said of Kuminover. "We talk about this a lot. He puts pressure on the basket. Hit a shot in an open position. Defensively, he knows what he should be standing on the ball and how to defend with and without the ball. He plays at a different pace and it's fun. He gave us a lot. ......We started to find where to defuse where he got the ball, how he attacked, and how he used his physicality and one-on-one ability when necessary. But he can also play Warriors basketball, read and react. He's improved a lot in this area, so he's given us a lot. ”
Therefore, the question for the Warriors is how to maximize the impact of Wiggins and Kuminga. Head coach Steve Kerr said he didn't want them to play at the same time. But in a league so full of shooting guards, he may have to rethink that because they might need both.
At center, the Warriors face the same dilemma. They need Kevon Looney at his best, who has proven himself to be a championship-level big man. But Dario Sharic is the shooting big man they've needed for a long time. In addition, Jackson Davis is the athletic big man who can punish opponents who are too pressing defensively with threats to the basket (while protecting the basket on the other end). In addition, Draymond Green is already the center of their championship season finisher, winning four championships.
However, Kerr is still managing the dilemma of adjusting playing time through 30 games, and the situation is not clear. Curry, Thompson, Wiggins and Paul played between 28 and 32 minutes per game. This doesn't leave much time for other outside options. Now, it seems that Pozdecemsky is also fixed in this time period.
Keep in mind that Green is currently suspended, while Gary Payton II is recovering from injury. There will be some tough decisions to be made when they return, and the Warriors' general manager, Mike Dunleavy, should weigh in on who is more valuable in the Warriors' rotation and who is more valuable in the market.
If Wiggins and Thompson don't play well, or don't play, then Kuminga and Moses Moody have their chances. But on Monday, Moody was told he was out of the rotation, and Kuminga's time was compressed by Wiggins, who scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to become the team's top scorer.
By the time Wiggins got his way, we've seen what happened. The Warriors won a championship once when he was in his prime.
But the Warriors still need Kuminga. Not only because Wiggins can't consistently deliver that level of performance, but also because the Warriors need another player who is in control of the game. They need another player who can change the course of the game. From a playoff perspective, the Warriors need players who can apply pressure on both ends of the floor. Especially against strong teams, in important matches.
Yes, I'm a game-changer guy," Kuminga said. "I know I am. But it's not up to me to do certain things. How can I say that?It's not up to me to control my playing time. I feel like I've done it. But the final decision is not in my hands. It's not easy because I know how to score. I know how to pass the ball. I know how to do different things on the field. But the problem is to put all of this together. With the guys we have on the field, it's really difficult to put all of that together. I'm trying to figure out how to handle this. ”
It's clear that the Warriors have a strong team in it. Their potential is much higher than their 15-15 record. They made the defending champions uncomfortable on Monday, forcing the Nuggets to play poorly. They did a pretty good job defending Jokic. He was just 4-of-12 from the field. The Warriors turned 14 Nuggets turnovers into 23 points to win the competition for turnovers, while Denver scored just 12 of the Warriors' 13 turnovers. They even got Jamal Murray into foul trouble on the defensive end.
But when it comes time to win, when games get stuck and back-to-backs, that's when Denver shines. When the strong teams go all out, the Warriors are still unsure what their best performance is. At Christmas, Golden State looked the most incongruous and powerless in the fourth quarter. This is partly due to the lack of a fixed closing rotation and uncertainty about who will be on the field.
Curry tends to obscure that. He ranks sixth in fourth-quarter scoring total this season while ranking 32nd in playing time. No one has scored more points than Curry in crunch time this season.
But this year's Christmas was once again the day the Grinch stole Curry's game. In 10 Christmas games, Curry failed to score more than 20 points for the ninth time. He finished with 18 points on 7-of-21 shooting and 3-of-13 from three-point range. In 2021, the last time he competed in Christmas, he scored 33 points in Phoenix. It seemed to break the curse at the time. But Monday was more like a different game.
One of the great oddities of the NBA is that Curry averaged just 15 points on Christmas8 points and 31 shooting percentages7％。This is despite the fact that he has made more three-pointers than any other player in league history, while his 42A shooting percentage of 7 is still ridiculous when considering the number of shots. But at Christmas?He was 7 out of 18, a surprising 231 in three-point shooting percentage.
The Nuggets helped Curry continue that tradition by packing Curry and giving him a chance to make the All-Star team on the defensive end, with Kentaveos Caldwell-Pope staying close behind Curry. When it's not KCP, the Nuggets put one of their athletic wing players next to Curry and is ready to help defend at any time. Whenever the Warriors tried to run a pick-and-roll, the Nuggets would pack him most of the time and accept the resulting 4-on-3 situation.
This opens the box for the Warriors. The space is good for both Kuminga and Wiggins. Their athleticism, their ability to reach their goal in isolation, their determination to rush to the basket, is a problem for Denver.
But who will play in order to make room for Kuminga?And it doesn't create the same problem that Kuminga is experiencing, not being able to use his talents?
This season, Kuminga ranks sixth in total playing time in the fourth quarter, but is second only to Curry in total points scored in the fourth quarter. Part of the reason was because he shot 63 from the field in the fourth quarter6, and he's made more free throws than anyone other than Curry.
But the Warriors have a lot of options. That's why Kerr has previously tried to narrow down the rotation to nine players. But two of them, Green and Payton, were out for long periods of time. The other members of the nine-man roster did not perform well and could not guarantee playing time, opening the door for young players.
The cost of this diversity was evident on Monday.
At 8:22 of the fourth quarter, Curry returned to the game, so the Nuggets also brought Jokic back into the game. At 7:25, Denver traded Caldwell Pope back into the game. At 5:04, Aaron Gordon returns. The Nuggets are ready and ready to finish the game with their best players: Jokic, Murray, Caldwell-Pope, Gordon and Michael Porter. Everyone knows their role. On the offensive end, they know what they want to do.
The Warriors, on the other hand, fielded nine players at the end of the game. Looney and Kuminga came on at 7:25. At 3:50 a.m., Thompson was back on the field. At 2:02, Paul and Jackson Davis came on the court. At 1:13, Sharic came on for Jackson Davis. Every substitution changes the strengths and weaknesses on the field. Each player brings a different option to the table. The Warriors played the most critical moments, but they were still looking, trying to press the right button, still hovering between different styles and skills. Their record in crunch time is 12-12. Quantity does not lead to consistency.
The potential of this team is good. It's just that squad depth gets in the way of finding it.
We're strong, man," Kuminga said. "We can beat any team in the league and make everyone feel like nothing has changed. We are still strong. Things are getting better. We just need to figure it out. ”