JJonathan Kuminga held his own against Anthony Edwards in a matchup that could dictate how far the Golden State Warriors can stay afloat while waiting for Stephen Curry to return.
Kuminga was Edwards’ primary defender in Game 2, with Warriors coach Steve Kerr leaning on the 6-foot-7 forward’s athleticism to hound the Minnesota Timberwolves star.
In the 19 possessions he defended Edwards, Kuminga only allowed him to take one shot, per the NBA’s matchup tracking data. Kuminga also forced Edwards into a turnover and limited him to just one assist when they were pitted against each other.
“This is one of our best players in this league and it’s just not an easy matchup going out there every single play,” Kuminga said of Edwards. “But you just got to do the best and not foul, just stay physical and try to slow him down. It’s not going to be great every time, but the more effort you put in, the better it is.”
Edwards wound up with only 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting, 7.6 points below his regular-season average and 6.8 points less than he averaged against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.
Jonathan Kuminga Earns Steve Kerr’s Praise and Trust
Getty Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr shakes hands with Jonathan Kuminga.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr praised Kuminga for his gallant effort despite his sporadic playing time in these playoffs.
“[Kuminga] did a great job, I thought,” Kerr told reporters after the loss. “I was very proud of just the way he’s stayed ready, stayed positive. This has not been an easy stretch for him, and he really came out there and did a great job today, kind of showing what he’s made of.
“He obviously will be back out there for Game 3. And we’re going to need him.”
Kuminga said he stayed ready by working out, watching game film, and staying strong mentally. But the most important thing to him was keeping a positive attitude despite his demotion.
“I think just being a good teammate, that’s the biggest thing that keeps me ready,” Kuminga said.
While the Timberwolves took a 117-93 wire-to-wire win, it was not for the lack of trying for the Warriors, especially Kuminga, who scored 18 points and grabbed five rebounds.
“Especially knowing [Curry is out] and the way we started wasn’t that great, pretty much everybody else had to step up,” Kuminga said. “So, I just went out there and just tried to compete. I think everything just fell in line.”
Searching for the Steph Curry-Less Formula
Kuminga helped contain Edwards, but the Timberwolves star got plenty of support with five of his teammates contributing nine or more points.
Kerr used Game 2 to experiment with different combinations to see how they would play in the series without Curry, who suffered a Grade 1 left hamstring strain in Game 1.
“We had found a formula over the last couple of months, and obviously, we’re having a lot of success, but without Steph, the formula completely goes out the window, and we’ve got to figure out the next one,” Kerr said.
Kuminga will be part of the next formula, which Kerr hopes will be enough for the Warriors to keep their playoff run until Curry comes back.
Jonathan Kuminga Got his Joy Back
After only appearing in five of the Warriors’ first nine games in this postseason, Kuminga stayed ready because he knew his moment would come.
“I was just focusing on just coming in there — don’t matter how many minutes I get — to just find a way to impact,” said Kuminga, who played 26 minutes — the most by any Warriors reserves in Game 2. “But I wasn’t going out there expecting to have so many minutes. Just anytime my name gets called because I know one of these days my name is going to be called, and just go out there and just impact the game, make the best out of it.”
Kuminga said his confidence returned as he played more in Game 2. He hit his first eight shots, including a dunk over Minnesota’s towering center Rudy Gobert in the third quarter that sparked the Warriors’ rally to cut the 22-point deficit to seven.
“It’s very important,” Kuminga said of having confidence. “Because as long your confidence is there, as you have joy, you could do a lot of things and I think confidence is one of those things where once you got them, it don’t matter even if the ball is not going through the net, you know you could still do other things besides scoring. You could still go out there and impact the game.”
