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Late in the first quarter of Game 3, Jonathan Kuminga put together quite possibly the best 10-second sequence of his career in quite possibly the best game of his NBA life.
At the rim, he rotated over to block a Jaden McDaniels dunk attempt. Then he attacked four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert on a drive, flipping in an and-1 shot over the 7-footer.
“Elite, elite,” Buddy Hield said postgame. “This is the Jonathan we missed. We know what he’s capable of. So happy for him to see him be aggressive and play basketball without second guessing himself … he feels like he got his confidence back and his feet are under him.”
The 22-year-old Kuminga dropped a playoff career-high 30 points on 11-for-18 shooting. He dunked on Anthony Edwards and hounded him for stretches defensively, leveraging his 99th percentile athleticism on both ends of the court. Kuminga, the fourth-year player, needed to keep himself ready as Steve Kerr removed him from the rotation for much of the past month under the brightest spotlights, and he did exactly what Golden State has always asked of him in Game 3.
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Kuminga and Jimmy Butler combined for 63 points, but Draymond Green fouled out with 4:38 left, Brandin Podziemski went 1-for-10 from the field, and the Warriors faded in the fourth quarter as Edwards took over. But Kuminga’s night was an encouraging sign for the fourth-year forward, both in the short-term and for him going forward.
“He was brilliant,” Kerr said. “JK played one of the best games of his life. It was fantastic to see. You can see how necessary he is in this matchup, especially without Steph. We’re having a tough time getting free, and he’s obviously capable of giving us some points, getting to the rim and I thought he was fantastic.
At +5, Kuminga was the only Warrior to have a positive plus-minus in the 102-97 loss in Game 3. Minnesota leads the series 2-1, making Monday a must-win as the Warriors try to buy time for Steph Curry to possibly return from his Grade 1 hamstring strain.
That Kuminga excelled in Game 3 does not repudiate Kerr for benching him. When the Warriors have Curry, they play a completely different style — one that has not been an easy fit for Kuminga, especially after Butler joined the team. Kuminga struggled re-acclimating himself in a supplementary role while returning from his gnarly ankle sprain this spring. The formula Kerr concocted before Curry’s injury was working, and Kuminga wasn’t an active ingredient.
But without Curry — who will be re-evaluated next Wednesday but has already begun some light shooting activity — the Warriors need Kuminga. They need him to be able to play alongside Butler, which they asked him to do in each of the past two games. And they need him to score — not just defend, rebound, and run the floor.
Butler, especially in the playoffs, is a more willing — and dangerous — outside shooter. He’s also such a cerebral player that he had little doubt the pair could figure it out. On one Butler post-up, Kuminga made a perfectly timed cut down the lane and Butler found him with a bounce pass for a jam.
That was synergy: two slashers from the wing working together to generate shots at the rim.
“Shooting the ball when he’s open, attacking, getting to the free throw line,” Butler said. “It’s a beautiful sight to see. Like I tell everybody, me and him can thrive together.”
At halftime, the Warriors were 0-for-5 from behind the 3-point arc. Without Curry, they attacked the paint — not shying away from Gobert — and turned the game into a form of defense-first mud ball. Kuminga’s pull-up from the baseline was the only field goal Golden State converted outside of the paint before the third quarter.
Although the Warriors eventually unlocked their outside shots in the second half, they didn’t provide enough support for Butler and Kuminga. The duo shot 23-for-44 (53.5%) from the floor. The rest of the team went 12-for-37 (32.4%), low-lighted by Podziemski’s dismal scoring night.
“We’ve just got to be ready to buckle down and give Jimmy some more support,” Hield said. “Myself, everybody, BP. Locking in. The role players need to help Jimmy out some more so we can tie it up and go back to Minnesota.”
When Kuminga was glued to the bench in the highest-profile games, he and those close to him maintained that he would stay ready for whenever his opportunity would come. It may have been easy to dismiss that as platitudes or cliches from admittedly biased sources, but they were right.
Kuminga worked behind the scenes with his trainer, Ant Wells, as well as the Warriors coaching staff. He watched film and ran with the backups after and between games. Especially after the Rockets series, his mood in the locker room before games was especially light.
“It’s not easy,” Kuminga said of being out of the rotation. “It’s very tough.”
This isn’t the first time Kuminga has bounced back from a similar situation. His status within Kerr’s rotation has run hot and cold throughout his Warriors tenure, but he has consistently played well after low points — self-inflicted or otherwise.
In his past two games, thrust back into the mix because of Curry’s injury, Kuminga is 17-for-29.
“I’ve said it a couple times to you guys, I’ve just been impressed with the way he’s handled things the last couple weeks and the way he’s stayed ready and put in the work and it paid off tonight,” Kerr said.
It could very well pay off beyond Saturday night. A performance like that on such a stage is the kind of exclamation mark that can get a player paid. Kuminga is a pending restricted free agent, and he just showed the rest of the NBA what it looks like when he’s clicking; even against one of the stingiest defenses in the league, in a true playoff environment, he can go out and make a difference.
The Warriors and Kuminga failed to agree to a contract extension before the season began. They’ll be able to renew talks once free agency opens while Golden State will maintain the right to match any offer sheet he receives.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob is known to be a Kuminga booster. He was in the front row pumping his fist after big Kuminga moments both in Minneapolis for Game 2 and Saturday during Game 3.
Golden State will have to make a decision of some sort on Kuminga this summer. But the Warriors still think they can delay the start of the offseason by leaning into their defense, letting Butler and Kuminga loose, and getting more out of their role players to upset the Timberwolves.
“It would have felt great if we won this game,” Kuminga said. “It’s just part of the journey. But I’m glad, you know, things went well, but it doesn’t feel well when you don’t get the win.”