Kuminga's “gift” comes to life on the Warriors' bench against the Pelicans

Kuminga’s “gift” comes to life away from the Warriors bench. Pelicans originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Although the numbers suggest otherwise, Jonathan Kuminga didn't see much of a difference between his breakout game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday and the Warriors' three previous games.

From Kuminga's perspective, the only difference was that the same shots he had made and missed began to fall. Golden State's big man led a dominant night off the Warriors' bench alongside Lindy Waters III.

Kuminga scored a season-high 17 points with three assists, two steals and a blocked shot in the Warriors' 124-106 win at Chase Center.

“Because I scored more goals, I feel like I had a flow,” Kuminga said. “I did the same thing I did in Game 2, 3…still attacking the rim and putting pressure (on opponents). Today things went in. Looks like I'm doing something different, but it shouldn't be that way. My gift and my nature is to attack the rim as often as possible.”

The focus of Kuminga's game has always been his aggressiveness, pushing to the rim with ferocity, which has made him one of the best players in the NBA when it comes to attacking in the lane.

Until Tuesday, however, such moments had been rare this season. In Golden State's first three games, Kuminga had taken a total of 24 shots while giving way to the other starters.

After receiving a text message from the Warriors before the game informing him that he would be coming off the bench against the Pelicans, Kuminga didn't make a fuss and instead channeled any frustrations he might have had into his spacing best game of the 2024-25 Youth NBA season.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr didn't seem too surprised. He said he made the decision to move Kuminga to the bench due to space constraints.

“I wanted a little more distance and knew it was going to be a JK game,” Kerr said. “I knew he was going to play a lot because he played well against (the Pelicans). The encounters are good for him.”

Kuminga almost laughed at Kerr's last sentence.

“I tend to play well against everyone,” he said.

That wasn't the case in the Warriors' first three games, when Kuminga scored 10, 2 and 12 points against the Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers, respectively.

In retrospect, coming off the bench was a blessing. He played 28 minutes, six more than in the first three games, and helped Golden State's bench to a 54-30 lead over the Pelicans.

“I thought JK was great,” Kerr said. “We're obviously going to need him. He is our most athletic player. He has great size and there are games like tonight where we need him and other games where maybe things don't go the way he wants and that's okay. Just because the first three games didn't go that way, we now have 78 more.

“I am very confident that JK will have a big impact on us.”

Kuminga didn't seem to mind, if at all, having to come off the bench. He tried to maintain the same attitude and approach that he had taken in every game.

“We have ups and downs, not every game is your game,” he said. “Today was exactly the same, but it was one of my nights. I wouldn’t say it was my best night.”

Maybe not, but the Warriors will take nights like these from Kuminga every game if they can get them.

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