The Warriors’ wild loss to the Utah Jazz will be remembered by the bizarre way in which Golden State blew a four-point lead within the final 13 seconds. But Jonathan Kuminga’s performance and skirmish with Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson shouldn’t go unnoticed.
The Warriors don’t erase a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit without Kuminga’s physical scoring and staunch one-on-one defense. No sequence best exemplified his impact and competitiveness than his offense-to-defense efforts with 36 seconds remaining in the game.
First the 20-year-old threw down a dunk off a falling feed from Jordan Poole to give the Warriors a two-point lead with 36 seconds remaining. Kuminga bottled up Clarkson — Utah’s leading scorer — on the ensuing inbound play, blocking his jumper much to the chagrin of Clarkson, who swatted at Kuminga and the ball from behind. That’s when things got heated.
