Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga are on the rise in

Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga are on the rise in the Warriors' road win over the Knicks

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NEW YORK – On Thursday night, the Golden State Warriors' two most recent lottery picks, selected in the same 2021 NBA Draft, combined to form a crucial sequence for one of the franchise's better wins in this tumultuous season that is turning in a positive direction again.

The Warriors quickly took a 14-0 lead. The New York Knicks were never able to turn the game completely their way. But they threatened at various pivot points, and the dedicated crowd responded to the biggest possessions of the night, rising to their feet when it appeared the Knicks were on the run.

One of those moments came with just under six minutes left. The Knicks had it down to five. The audience was thrilled. After a substitution, Moses Moody guarded Alec Burks. Burks, a left-hander, dribbled into a stop, pumped and popped his right elbow, a midfielder he very rarely blocks.

Moody stayed with him, didn't bite the pump, and then put his long left arm in the air to block Burks' jumper so well that it reached about three feet into his lap. He then shot the ball forward to Jonathan Kuminga, a dynamic transition player. Kuminga sprinted past two Knicks and pushed through a third, Jalen Brunson, and finished with a layup for a 1-0 lead to put the Warriors back within seven.

After the Warriors defeated the Knicks 110-99, Steve Kerr entered the locker room and, according to Steph Curry, immediately singled out Moody. He explained to the team how important Moody's individual defense against Brunson was to the outcome of the evening. Kerr told the media the same thing 15 minutes later, deferring a general question about the team's overall performance to the individual.

“Moses did a great job of making it as difficult as possible without fouling,” Kerr said. “Forcing him to give hard punches. That was the key.”

Moody said he learned of the assignment at the team's morning meeting at their Manhattan hotel. The Warriors wanted to add to Brunson. Moody stands 6 feet tall and has a 7-foot wingspan. Faster guards gave him trouble and whizzed past due to the slower lateral movement. But Brunson succeeds with strength and skill. Moody himself is big, strong, patient and smart.

“You don’t want to have Brunson as a smaller defender because he’s so strong and can bully you in the paint,” Kerr said.

“I feel like my length kind of limits midfield play,” Moody said. “Being able to do those mid-range shots while having my body weight somewhere else — my weight in one place and my arm in another.”

Here are some of the possessions where Moody gave Brunson some problems and caused him to miss shots.

Moody was only given the opportunity because Andrew Wiggins is away from the team due to a personal matter. Wiggins probably would have gotten the Brunson job if he had been around, and Moody probably would have stayed out of the crowded rotation.

But he's the temporary starter in Wiggins' absence and backed up a solid offensive game in Washington, D.C., with the most impactful defensive play of his young career. Until Wiggins returns – and they have stated both publicly and privately that they expect him back – Moody has the opportunity to continue to push for regular playing time.

But he has performed well in several other moments in small and large roles (even in the playoffs) in his first three seasons, only to see the playing time slip away. He has regularly been buried behind Wiggins, Klay Thompson, Brandin Podziemski, Chris Paul, Kuminga and Gary Payton II this season.

“It’s real life,” Moody said. “Different things happen. You need to be able to keep your head and control your emotions. All of my friends are in the situation where they're leaving college and trying to figure out life. Everyone experiences different adversities. Who am I to think I should have an easy path to anything I want? It just is.”

Moody's contribution against the Knicks was of the quieter, more subtle variety. He finished the game with a game-high plus-23.

Kuminga's night was louder. He had 25 points on 12 of 19 shooting, giving him 46 points on 22 of 32 shooting in the last two games, and bounced back after a brief rest period. Only one of those 32 shots was an attempted three-pointer. Almost everything came from the edge and occasionally from the short middle distance.

“He should live in the paint,” Kerr said. “He has done a great job over the last six weeks of stepping up his game and breaking through by attacking the rim and continuing to focus on scoring down the field.”

Kuminga is still willing to take the 3. With two minutes left he had a corner 3 completely open, Curry kicked it to him and he took it. But most importantly, he has decided to cut it out of his shot diet in favor of attacking almost exclusively open terrain when it bothers him.

“There will be moments when I take a 3,” Kuminga said. “Anytime I put pressure on the rim, people are going to foul me or score easily. That gives us energy. If we need 3s, we have different shooters who (do that). But there obviously has to be someone else doing something other than shooting threes.”

This was the Warriors' seventh straight road win. They are 10-2 in their last 12 games and 31-27 overall, a season-high four games above .500. They are just two games from the eighth seed, two 1/2 games from seventh and three games from sixth.

Confidence in the locker room is growing. This is normal during a winning streak. But it also depends on how they win these games. The younger layer in the squad continues to step up when the opportunity arises.

“That’s not lost on me,” Kerr said. “We are interested in winning every game, but also in strengthening our future as a franchise.”

“They show it,” Curry said. “We needed guys to keep up and be consistent, and that’s what they do. We must continue to bundle these services. It doesn't mean winning every game, it means identity. This is what I always say: Are we forming an identity? I think we are.”

(Photo: Mike Stobe/Getty Images)