What we learned as Kuminga powers Warriors’ comeback win vs. Suns

What we learned as Kuminga fuels Warriors’ comeback against Suns originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

CASH SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO – A star is born in the Bay Area, or that has been the story in the Warriors’ last two games.

Jonathan Kuminga’s rise has skyrocketed to the kind of NBA All-Star potential the Warriors dreamed of when they selected him with the seventh pick in the 2021 draft. Kuminga’s two free throws with 29 seconds left gave the the Warriors a one-point lead, ultimately leading to their 109-105 victory against the Phoenix Suns on Saturday at Chase Center.

With the victory, the Warriors snapped a three-game losing streak and returned to above .500 with a 16-15 record in the 2024-25 NBA season.

Kuminga scored a game-high 34 points. matching his career record that marked the night before. The 22-year-old forward could not be stopped at the rim, going 12 of 20 from the field and 8 of 12 at the free throw line. His sensational performance made him the first Warriors player to have consecutive 30-point games off the bench since Cazzie Russell in 1974.

Kuminga also had nine rebounds, coming one rebound shy of his second consecutive double-double.

Steph Curry was second behind Kuminga, scoring 22 points, and also added six rebounds and six assists. The Warriors superstar posted a game-high plus-20 in 35 minutes.

Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ great comeback in front of their home crowd.

What Nurkic doesn’t Meant

After finding himself in the middle of the closest thing to a real fight in the NBA last night, Suns starting center Jusuf Nurkić began serving his three-game suspension Saturday night, meaning he would be out. on the court against the Warriors. This also changed things positively for coach Steve Kerr’s combinations.

That became clear after the first timeout of the game. Buddy Hield and Kuminga came on, pushing Dennis Schröder and Trayce Jackson-Davis to the bench. With Nurkić unavailable, Kerr was able to use Draymond Green more in the center and pair him alongside Kuminga in the attacking zone. In just under three minutes, the group of Curry, Hield, Andrew Wiggins, Kuminga and Green earned a +9, outscoring the Suns 12-3.

Kerr used seven combinations in which Green was at center and Kuminga played at power forward; five had a positive plus/minus and only one was negative. Kuminga was able to attack downhill for the second game in a row and was a force to be reckoned with.

Additionally, Jackson-Davis continued to be very impactful, finishing with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds and tying his career high with four blocks. The second-year pro flipped a switch and became the game-changing presence he was near the end of last season once he joined the starting lineup.

Draymond finds his offense

One of the best success stories earlier this season, when the Warriors were rolling, was that Green was a scoring option, especially from 3-point range. But lately it has calmed down considerably.

After scoring 21 points and going 5-for-9 on 3-pointers on Dec. 15 against the Dallas Mavericks, Green came into the night with a total of seven points and making just two of his 11 3-point attempts in his last three games. Maybe a night off was exactly what he needed.

Green sat down the first night of a back-to-back tournament at the The Warriors’ loss to the Los Angeles Clippersbut in the second quarter Saturday night he found his shooting stroke. In the second quarter alone, Green scored 14 points and went a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the 3-point line. That gave him 16 points at halftime, his most points in any half this season.

Although Green did not score again in the second half, his 16 first-half points kept the Warriors in the game. He also had eight rebounds and seven assists.

Another failure from this trio

In the Warriors’ loss on Friday night against the Clippers without Curry and Green, Hield, Schröder and Andrew Wiggins laid an egg offensively. Schröder scored seven points and Hield and Wiggins added five each. All in the starting lineup, the trio combined to score 17 points on 7-of-30 shooting (23.3 percent) and were 2-of-15 on 3-pointers (13.3 percent).

Somehow, they were just as bad the next night.

Hield took seven shots, all three-pointers, and missed all seven. It was his first goalless night this season. Wiggins scored seven points on a modest 3 of 12 shooting and was 1 of 6 on three-pointers. Schröder’s 11 points were his second double-digit scoring night in his sixth game as a Warrior, going 4 of 13 from the field and 1 of 7 from long range.

However, Schröder saved the best for last and scored seven points in the fourth quarter. His 3-pointer at 1:23 of the fourth quarter gave the Warriors a 104-103 lead after missing their first six 3-point attempts.

That could be the exact shot Schröder needs to find his rhythm in a Warriors jersey.

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