Draymond Green raved about his younger Golden State Warriors‘ teammate for his two-way play in their 123-116 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday for their fourth straight win.
Jonathan Kuminga returned from a one-game absence due to a pelvic contusion and played his best game since coming back from a 32-game layoff between January and March because of a significant ankle sprain.
The fourth-year forward scored 18 points on an efficient 7-of-12 shooting night with nine rebounds, four assists and a block in just 25 minutes off the bench.
“That [kind of performance] takes this team to another level,” Green said of Kuminga after the win. “He was so patient and let the game come to him.”
Jonathan Kuminga’s Growth
One particular play from Kuminga caught Green’s attention that gave him the confidence that the young forward is ready to take the next leap.
“He got going a little bit getting downhill as soon as he got in there but I thought the biggest play he made was when he got in the middle of the paint and kicked it out to Moses Moody,” Green told reporters.
For his first assist of the game, Kuminga drove to the middle of the paint but the Lakers built a defensive wall. Instead of forcing the issue, Kuminga found Moody on the right corner for a wide-open 3-pointer that extended the Warriors lead to 38-29 in the second quarter.
“That just shows growth,” Green said of the play. “He can take that shot. He can make that shot and he does often but to go in there not take that shot and have the shot but kick it out for an even better shot and get someone else going, that’s what stars do.
“So it’s just good to see that next level of growth from him. We need him to continue playing the way he played tonight. Every night’s not going to look the same for him. That’s just the way this league works when an offense isn’t built around you but if he plays with what always need from him — getting downhill and him playing with the patience that he played with tonight — is huge.”
Good Offense, Better Defense
Kuminga also turned up the notch defensively. The Lakers were 4-of-10 when he was the primary defender, per NBA.com’s matchup tracker.
“Luka, LeBron, everybody. He got on Austin Reeves at times,” Green said of Kuminga’s defense. “He was asking for those matchups. It says a lot. We challenged him in private. We challenged him publicly to step up on the defensive end and he did that. He was great offensively but he was even better defensively.”
This version of Kuminga is what the Warriors need to become a serious threat in the stacked Western Conference.
Kuminga has become a lightning rod among the Warriors fan base, especially with his looming restricted free agency this summer.
Warriors star Stephen Curry came to Kuminga’s defense.
“I think we need to just let this guy play basketball,” Curry told reporters after beating the Lakers. “We don’t have to have a declaration after every game. We don’t have to be in a situation where we are judging every minute he’s out there.”
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