The Golden State Warriors suffered a crushing loss on Christmas Day, as their comeback efforts were thwarted by the Los Angeles Lakers in a last-second 115-113 defeat. Stephen Curry's heroics were not enough as Austin Reaves got to the basket and made a layup to give the Lakers the win with just one second remaining.
On the play, Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins was beat with a straight-line drive to the left side, and Reaves made a nifty finish with his right hand to avoid the block attempt. Jonathan Kuminga was face guarding Rui Hachimura under the basket near the baseline, and he was late in rotation to help out on the drive.
In theory, if Kuminga is not following Hachimura so closely, he could have been able to help out on the drive and maybe make a stop to send the game to overtime. Warriors fans certainly took note of this. They weren't happy with Kuminga's effort on the play, and they let him hear about it on social media.
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“I still can’t believe Kuminga was face guarding a player that was out of bounds for game,” one fan posted on X, formerly Twitter. Another added, “Rule #1 on defense Never turn your back to the ball.”
Warriors fans have been getting impatient with Kuminga and the team as a whole during a stretch of play where the Warriors have struggled to stack wins together. After sitting near the top of the Western Conference at the beginning of the season, the Warriors have fallen back into the play-in mix after a string of close losses where they couldn't get the job done in crunch time.
Kuminga has been a key piece of the team this season despite seeing his role fluctuate between a starter and a bench player. He is currently third on the team in scoring at 15 points per game. He finished Christmas Day with 14 points and six rebounds on 4-for-10 shooting.
