Watch: Jonathan Kuminga dunks the Warriors to a halftime lead
In a battle between 39-year-old LeBron James and 36-year-old Steph Curry, the first-half star was 21-year-old Jonathan Kuminga.
Golden State’s third-year forward, who hadn’t celebrated his first birthday when James played his first NBA game, closed the second quarter with two massive dunks, giving the Warriors a halftime lead.
Kuminga has been dunking his whole career. The different in recent months is that now, he’s also hitting jump shots. In a three-minute stretch in the first quarter, Kuminga made four straight shots for 10 points.
In fact, the only other Warriors points in that stretch came on an Andrew Wiggins three – assisted by Kuminga.
It’s been an up-and-down season for the aging Warriors, who are desperately trying to climb out of or even just hold on to 10th place in the Western Conference. They’re leaning heavily on young players like Kuminga, rookie Brandin Podziemski and his fellow rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis down the stretch.
Jackson-Davis may have made the team's biggest contribution on Saturday, albeit unintentionally. While defending an Anthony Davis layup, he struck Davis in the face. AD subsequently left the game with an eye contusion.
Davis was +6 in his 12 first-quarter minutes. With him off the court, the Lakers were -13 late in the third quarter.
Perhaps the Lakers can weather young Warriors’ alley-oops. The eye pokes are more difficult to survive.
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