Without Draymond Green, these key players stepped up to save Warriors’
season
Warriors' Moses Moody, Donte DiVincenzo among role players who stepped
up big in Game 3 win over Sacramento Kings
>Golden State Warriors’ Moses Moody (4) reacts after dunking the ball
against the Sacramento Kings during the third quarter of Game 3 of the
NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs at the Chase Center in San
Francisco, Calif., on Thursday, April 20, 2023. The Golden State
Warriors defeated the Sacramento Kings 114-97. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay
Area News Group)
By SHAYNA RUBIN | srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: April 21, 2023 at 4:50 a.m. | UPDATED: April 21, 2023 at
10:18 p.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/04/21/without-draymond-green-these-key-players-stepped-up-to-save-warriors-season/

SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green served his league suspension. Gary Payton
II, a late scratch due to illness. The Warriors, down two games to none
to the Sacramento Kings in the playoffs’ first round, were without their
two best defenders understanding that one more loss would all but end
their title defense.

In the hours leading up to a pivotal Game 3, coach Steve Kerr and the
veterans preached the need for role players and, in some cases, guys who
had completely fallen out of the rotation, to step up. At practice,
Green told them how to best take on his duties in his absence.

It’s a tired call to action if it falls on def ears, but a sermon for
the motivated.

The Warriors’ 114-97 season-saving win on Thursday night at Chase Center
doesn’t happen without a galvanized Moses Moody, Donte DiVincenzo,
Jonathan Kuminga and JaMychal Green. For them, the next-man-up cliche
turned into an inspired reality.

“Humbly speaking, I’ve always been a winner,” Moody said. “I’m not going
to act like I’ve got the ultimate poise or anything like that. But I
like the moment.”

Moody’s sophomore season has been all about seizing small opportunities
— a few minutes in a game here and there. Defensive mistakes early on
pushed him out of the rotation, but his dedication in practice and
effort during the few minutes he played continued to keep the coaching
staff’s eyes. Coaches also remember how he responded when thrust into
the Western Conference Finals against Dallas last season, where he put
together a handful of defensive plays that helped seal the series in
five games.

Thursday, Moody’s transition from bench to big game was seamless. He had
13 points and three rebounds in 16 minutes, including a pair of
3-pointers in the first quarter that helped Golden State maintain a lead
it never relinquished.

“I thought Moses really got us going in the first half with those two
3s,” Kerr said.

Beyond the scoring, Moody helped boost the physicality on defense — he
got three boards and contributed to a team-wide effort to get under some
of Sacramento’s best scorers. A more physical approach to defending
Malik Monk — who was scoring at will in the Kings’ first two games — was
DiVincenzo’s motivation. He had four steals.

“Matchup-wise, I spent a lot of time on Malik, one of their key guys,”
DiVincenzo said. “I know he got it going, just about being more physical
with him tonight.

“We have to focus on it being a seven-game series. As much energy and
confidence as they have going into tonight, our mindset is to wear them
down. We have to do it night in and night out. We’re in good shape,
we’re well conditioned and strong and we have a lot of bodies we can
throw at them. When we make them defend, it wears them down.”

Monk finished with just four points and went 0-for-4 from 3. De’Aaron
Fox, primarily guarded by Andrew Wiggins, had 26 points but was 9-for-22
from the field. The Warriors might have been without their two best
defenders, but the Kings finished the night shooting 23% from 3 and 38%
from the field.

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Green urged that his team to over-communicate and bear down on defense
during various pep talks at practice and pregame before he holed up in
his San Francisco apartment to watch the game by himself.

“People don’t see it, having him around talking to everyone and
motivating everyone helped us play freely,” Kuminga said. “(His message
was) mostly just control what you can control and him being around,
talking to us about things we really needed in this game. It helped a lot.

“He’s reminding us of who we are. If we let down, it’s over. Just have
to keep the energy going for 48 minutes.”

Kuminga put together a series of strong defensive plays at the point of
attack and, offensively, found his spots to take advantage of the Kings’
weak rim defense. He scored all six of his points in the fourth quarter:
two buckets penetrating to the rim and his final bucket a putback dunk.

Kuminga and other Warriors said that limiting their turnovers to 11 was
key in salvaging the series. They had 20 in Game 2 and 15 in Game 1.
Having DiVincenzo handle the ball to get Curry scoring opportunities off
ball was key in keeping those possessions clean — a job usually
spearheaded by Green.

“We knew there was going to be a big void on the communication side,”
DiVincenzo said. “That was the big thing for us, people had to step up
and communicate tonight. We did a really good job — when he’s not out
there, it allowed other guys to get an opportunity to get in rhythm. To
get Draymond back with others in rhythm, it’s a good problem.”

--
Shayna Rubin | General Assignment Sports Reporter
Shayna Rubin is a Bay Area News Group sports reporter for The Mercury
News and East Bay Times. She covered the Oakland A's from 2019 to 2021
and, most recently, the Golden State Warriors' championship run in 2022.
Shayna is a San Francisco native. She is a graduate of San Francisco
State University with a BA degree in journalism and a MA degree in
broadcasting and electronic communication arts.