Kuminga: “A person who engages in activities beyond simply making 3-pointers”

“We’re winning because of the growth of Jonathan Kuminga,” said Draymond Green to Chris Mullin in the postgame on-court interview on local TV, although that one started off on the wrong foot when Green called out Bonta Hill for criticism during the suspension (see transcripts below) — one of our audience members pointed to segments entitled “The most wasted season of Draymond’s career”, “Are we sure the Warriors NEED Draymond to come back”, and “What is Draymond Green doing?” as some of the receipts.

And to further summarize Kuminga’s growth over the course of the season, Chris Paul added that it was “probably a little frustrating for (JK) earlier in the season because he had a bunch of us vets sort of on him all the time.”

And let’s not forget the defensive side of things. An aspect we can all clearly remember from earlier this season: the reaching, the fouls. Said Kerr, “One of the best things that Jonathan is doing is defending without fouling.”

Finally, the recognition by Kuminga himself that the Splash Brothers already had enough, well, splash and that the team needed him to do to complement that:

Videos and transcripts below, plus some quotes from Moses Moody provided by Anthony Slater of The Athletic, presumably from the locker room at Madison Square Garden.

More later from New York in a separate post after I gather all the behind-the-scenes footage both from Washington and NYC, which includes Curry dropping by a youth basketball camp in East Harlem the day before, JK doing something similar at the NBPA offices, and Steph’s Gentleman’s Cut bourbon brand event at Zero Bond…

“I’m shocked you talking to me the way you was talking about me when I got suspended. I am very shocked you’re talking to me… Yeah. Go ahead though. Yeah, go ahead.”

0:27 Hey, tell me about playing at MSG. You guys go there once a year. There’s a lot of Warrior fans out there. Describe the energy out there at MSG.

“It’s always a fun game.”

0:37 FESTUS EZELI: Day Day, what’s going on man? You out there in New York? You guys are 12-3 the last 15 games. Defense has gone from the 20’s to now top 7. What’s been different about the team so far on the defensive end?

“We’re just playing very hard. Guys are connected, helping each other on the defensive end is working for us.”

1:00 CHRIS MULLIN: Draymond, you talk about connectivity. I want to talk about Jonathan Kuminga, his maturity, shot selection and one play in particular in the first half. It just sticks out in my mind. Steph was relocating. You directed Jonathan to go set a screen. Seems like he’s starting to really pick up both offensively and defensively, playing at a better pace. Seems more comfortable out there.

“He is. JK is a star. He’ll be an all star in this league for a long time. He’s playing confident. He’s playing with force on both ends of the floor. And that’s what he’s going to be great at. He’s not going to be a guy who can just give it to you on the offensive end. He’s going to be able to hold his own on the defensive end and shut guys down. Even more so than just holding his own, so it’s been great to see his growth. A lot of people are talking about me coming back in the lineup and that’s why we’re winning. We’re winning because of the growth of Jonathan Kuminga.

1:48 How about now the second unit with Chris Paul leading the way, Klay Thompson joining that. You guys get off to a good start. That second unit has really dominated, with Steph and Chris Paul leading that second unit.

“Klay’s been great. Klay embraced that second unit role and then obviously getting CP out there, settles everything down and gets everybody’s great looks. And I’ll tell you something that CP, even more so than Klay, that CP being back is going to do. We’ll get Dario back playing at a high level. Him and CP have such a great connection. And with CP being out there, he’ll start back getting Dario looks. Dario will get his confidence back in those looks and he’ll be knocking them down. So it’s going to make that second unit even better. And then, obviously, Trayce being on the rim. The rim presence that he is, rebounding the ball, blocking shots, lob threat. It’s been incredible for that group and for us.

BONTA: All right, 12-3 in the last 15. Seven straight road wins. Keep up the great work there on the road. We’ll see you tomorrow night in Toronto. Draymond Green here … He doesn’t like me right now. He doesn’t like the way I’m talking on the … But hey, we gotta keep it a buck here when it comes to suspensions or whatnot. But overall, Draymond Green is playing some good basketball on the court.

FESTUS: It reminds me of the interview that Richard Sherman did after the Super Bowl. Anyway, the Warriors, this was a very physical game.