Despite boasting the talents of two-time NBA champions Steph Curry and Draymond Green the Golden State Warriors are struggling to find their form.
The Indiana Pacers dealt the Warriors their latest playoff blow with a 105-111 win, Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam caused major headaches scoring a combined 43 points.
Despite the recent addition of Dennis Schroder the Warriors have now lost four of their last five games including their NBA Cup defeat to the Houston Rockets.
Following the latest defeat Curry explained how the team’s performances need to improve, he also criticized his display which saw him score just 10 points.
Despite the loss, Curry explained how one man on the side can ‘change the game’ for this struggling Warriors team.
For a while now the performances of Jonathan Kuminga have been praised by many around the NBA including his teammates and coaches at Golden State.
NBA expert Bill Simmons believed Kuminga was only getting a chance to shine to boost his trade value with the Warriors looking to bring in Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler.
However, it appears this ship has likely sailed and Kuminga is now genuinely being seen as a man that the Warriors should build around.
The 22-year-old top-scored for the Warriors in the defeat to the Pacers banking 26 points as well as eight rebounds and four assists.
Kuminga’s influence on the team was recently praised by Warriors coach Steve Kerr, and Curry now has also had his say on the hot prospect.
Speaking to the media Curry said: “He was probably the best player out there in terms of attacking, being decisive. Anytime you’re decisive and aggressive, you live with mistakes by playing in-the-flow offense and taking what the defense gives you.
“You saw him getting to the paint and getting another couple of possessions for us. He knocked down his open three, was getting downhill and putting pressure on the rim, doing things that only really he can do on our team.”
Curry went on to explain how Kuminga’s performances can help boost the teams’ overall success in the coming games.
He continued: “We love energetic, confident JK [Jonathan Kuminga], he can change a game for us like he did and stringing a couple of games like that together will hopefully raise our play and give us a chance to win on any given night.”
Since the beginning of December Kuminga has been averaging more than 25 minutes of court time per game, something which looked a long-shot at the beginning of the season.
If the Warriors were playing Kuminga more to use him as a boosted trade asset the star has certainly shown his worth, so much so that the Warriors would be silly to move him on.
Kuminga is continuing to prove his worth from the Warriors bench but with the numbers he’s dropping, it’s surely a matter of time before coach Kerr has to debate giving him regular starts.
Shooting 66.7% from behind the arc in the Pacers defeat shows Kuminga’s versatility, especially as he is more known for driving to the paint.
According to StatMuse, Kuminga has played 37 career games where he’s stayed in the game for 30+ minutes. In those games, he averages 20.2 PPG & 5.6 RPG on 54.2 FG%, 41.8 3P%.
Curry is seen as one of the best play-makers and shooters in the NBA, and while the two are very different in terms of playing styles it’s interesting to compare the numbers the pair are putting up.
| Steph Curry | Jonathan Kuminga | |
| Points | 21.8 | 15.5 |
| Rebounds | 5 | 4.5 |
| Assists | 6.6 | 2.0 |
While Steph still outscores Kuminga in every metric here, it’s important to realise that Curry is also averaging six minutes per game more than the youngster.
The franchise was reportedly looking to get to a ‘win now’ situation but throwing away a future talent in Kuminga to achieve this seems a bad idea.
Warriors fans are becoming impatient with poor results and Kuminga seems to be the key to turning that around.
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