Playing without star duo Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, the Golden State Warriors needed Jonathan Kuminga to deliver on his promise against the Houston Rockets at Chase Center on Thursday night.
That's just what the fourth-year forward did, scoring 14 of his career-high 33 points in the fourth-quarter as the Warriors broke their five-game losing streak with a 99-93 victory.
Jonathan Kuminga's career-high emphasizes long-standing Warriors issue
It was the sort of performance that provided a timely reminder of Kuminga's talent, why the franchise has invested so much time and patience in him, and what he could still provide them over the remainder of this season and moving forward.
Kuminga hunted mismatches on Fred VanVleet in the closing minutes, and gave little concern to Alperun Sengun or whatever rim protection the Rockets could provide. The 22-year-old had five of Golden State's last six points in the final 90 seconds, proving the difference in securing the six-point win.
With Curry on the sidelines, there was no surprise that the Warriors relied heavily on Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins who combined to score 56 of their 99 points. But what's more surprising is that the player who dropped 33 on the second-best defense in the league, is still not a full-time starter in a healthy Golden State lineup.
When Kuminga plays like that, he's undoubtedly within the team's best five players and is arguably the second-best option offensively. Yet making the pieces fit is a much harder task, with the former seventh overall pick having started in only six of his 19 games this season and is often left out of closing lineups.
Fitting Kuminga into the starting lineup has been a long-standing issue for Steve Kerr, and one that will again rear its head following this brilliant performance. How could someone capable of playing like that be moved back to the bench when Green inevitably returns?
Does Kerr need to go back to his initial starting lineup of Curry, Wiggins, Kuminga, Green and Jackson-Davis? Does he have to push Green to the five as he did during the middle of last season when Kuminga made a considerable leap? These are questions that will once again intensify after Golden State's most prodigious young talent almost single-handedly led them to a desperately needed win.
Kuminga will continue to start at power forward while Green is on the sidelines, but the veteran forward still hasn't been ruled out of Friday's second night of a back-to-back against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
