Houston Rockets vs. Golden State Warriors: Postgame Grades and Analysis
Klay Thompson scored 21 points, and the Golden State Warriors extended their winning streak to 14 straight games with a 105-93 victory over the Houston Rockets Wednesday night at Oracle Arena.
Andrew Bogut sat this one out with a knee injury.
| James Harden | A+ |
| Trevor Ariza | C- |
| Patrick Beverley | C |
| Donatas Motiejunas | B |
| Jason Terry | F |
| Rest of Team | D- |
| Stephen Curry | A |
| Klay Thompson | B+ |
| Draymond Green | B+ |
| Andre Iguodala | F |
| Harrison Barnes | A |
| Rest of Team | A- |
Houston Rockets
James Harden: A+
James Harden was absolutely brilliant in defeat.
The star 2-guard poured in 34 points off of 14-of-27 shooting, torturing the Warriors for much of the game. The odd thing about his performance was that he only attempted four free throws on the night.
Harden connected on three three-pointers and also chipped in eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. He nearly single-handedly kept Houston in the game down the stretch when the rest of his ballclub was struggling.
You also saw some flashes of his improved defense.
Trevor Ariza: C-
Trevor Ariza did not shoot the ball particularly well in the loss, going 5-of-14. He made only four of his 12 long-range attempts, with three of those triples coming in the third quarter.
Seeing as how all but two of his shot attempts came from downtown, it's easy to say that Ariza was not aggressive enough overall. With Bogut out, he could have made an effort to try to generate some dribble penetration, but he didn't.
Ariza finished with a relatively inefficient 18 points and six boards in a game-high 43 minutes.
Patrick Beverley: C
Patrick Beverley was able to contain Stephen Curry in the early stages of this contest, and for that, he deserves some props.
However, Beverley was not too effective offensively, shooting 5-of-15 and making good on only two of his seven three-point tries.
Beverley finished with 12 points, six rebounds and five dimes in 40 minutes.
Donatas Motiejunas: B
Donatas Motiejunas was able to feast inside at different stages of the night thanks to not having to deal with Bogut in the middle.
The big Lithuanian tallied 18 points off of 8-of-17 shooting and grabbed six rebounds.
Still, it would be nice to see Motiejunas spend more time on the block than the perimeter. The idea of him being a stretch big is nice, but he just isn't a good enough shooter to really bring that to fruition.
Jason Terry: F
Jason Terry has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance this season, but his performance Wednesday night wasn't very strong.
Terry scored only two points off of 1-of-7 shooting, going 0-of-5 from downtown. He had a few wide-open looks from distance, but just couldn't get one to go down.
Rest of Team: D-
The Rockets got very little production from their role players.
Tarik Black was solid with six points and six rebounds in 20 minutes, but that was about it. The only other player to score was Joey Dorsey, who registered a three-point play in the third period.
Nick Johnson went scoreless in 19 minutes.
Golden State Warriors
Stephen Curry: A
Stephen Curry got off to a slow start, but he came alive late in the second quarter and also finished the game incredibly well.
While the floor general did not explode from three (he made three triples), he was efficient, going 8-of-15 from the floor.
With the Rockets blitzing Curry at the top of the key much of the night, he was forced to play the role of facilitator, and he did just that with seven assists. He threw some careless passes, but for the most part, he was impressive.
Curry ended with 20 points as well as seven boards.
Klay Thompson: B+
Klay Thompson struggled with his outside shot in this one, making only one of his eight three-point attempts. However, he was still able to wreak havoc by putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim, something we hadn't seen from Thompson up until this year.
Thompson made great cuts to the basket and also slashed into the lane and finished at the rim many times in the win, as evidenced by his 7-of-10 clip from two-point range.
Klay ultimately recorded 21 points, four rebounds and four dimes in 35 minutes.
Draymond Green: B+
Draymond Green put together a solid all-around performance.
The versatile forward posted 11 points, eight rebounds and four steals and played defense all over the floor, whether that meant putting a body on Motiejunas in the post or stepping out and defending Harden on the perimeter.
He shot 4-of-8 and threw down a momentum-shifting dunk in the fourth quarter.
This wasn't one of Andre Iguodala's better nights.
The wing mustered one point, going 0-of-4 from the field in 24 minutes. He contributed very little elsewhere, recording three rebounds and a couple of assists.
He hardly saw the floor down the stretch, and with good reason.
Harrison Barnes: A
Harrison Barnes was the best Warrior on the floor for a sizable chunk of this ball game.
The forward put up 20 points off of 7-of-9 shooting, knocking down three of his four attempts from beyond the arc. He added seven rebounds and a pair of steals in 39 minutes.
Barnes also did a great job of leaking out in transition off of misses to help Golden State get easy buckets.
Rest of Team: A-
Marreese Speights was big as he has been all year, contributing 15 points and eight boards in 20 minutes off the bench. He did a great job of stretching the defense to open up driving lanes for his teammates and did all he could to spell Bogut defensively, blocking two shots.
Shaun Livingston was also impressive, tallying eight points, four assists and three rebounds. He made some big plays in crunch time, too, including a beautiful block on a Beverley three-point attempt.
Festus Ezeli did a solid job filling in for the injured Bogut, posting seven points and three boards in 16 minutes.
What's Next?
The Rockets will stay on the road and take on the Sacramento Kings Thursday night. The Warriors will get a couple of days off before heading to Texas to battle the Dallas Mavericks Saturday.
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