The Golden State Warriors handed the Phoenix Suns another loss on Saturday, 109-105, thanks to the brilliance of Jonathan Kuminga. Kuminga scored another 30 points off the bench to help the club win and raise their Western Conference record to 16–15.
Kuminga had 34 points, nine rebounds and three assists to end the night. It was the perfect help for Stephen Curry, who had 22 points, six rebounds and six assists. Although the two players scored the majority of the points, other players also made offensive contributions.
All-Star forward Draymond Green played almost 35 minutes and had 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
After their win, Green told reporters he’s encouraged his teammates to do everything to win. Despite starting at center for most of the 2024–25 NBA season, the four-time champion pointed out that he has been playing out of position from the beginning of the season.
“We gotta do what we gotta do to win games, whatever it looks like,” Green said. “For me, coming into this season, I’ll be honest. I didn’t want to play a ton of fives. It’s hard. But — and it was working we were 12-3 or whatever we were and it was working. When it’s not working, you have to look at what works. If that’s me at the five, like I said, I don’t love it for entire games at this point. But I love to win and more importantly, I hate to lose.”
He also encouraged the rest of the team to perform at their best to help the team to win.
“That’s what it looks like… We gotta win games or,I told the guys, we’re all gonna get traded out of here so we gotta win some games.”
Golden State Warriors spoke about his second 30-point explosion off the bench
Kuminga tied his career-high on back-to-back nights for the Golden State Warriors. After their game against the Suns, the youngster spoke about his mentality in the game that allowed him to dominate.
“It’s all about just focusing and locking in making those free throws,” Kuminga added. “And I feel like I was shooting well [with] free throws throughout my workout and stuff. Then, when I get to the game, something changed. And I didn’t know what it was. But [Wiggins] was one of the people who helped me. There was a year when I was really struggling [with] shooting free throws.”
Kuminga has started 10 games this season. However, the Golden State Warriors have benefitted from him coming off the bench. He’s averaging 16.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 29 games this year.
