Golden State Warriors: Kuminga flashes in garbage time, but is it enough to sway Kerr?

Jonathan Kuminga has been one of the talking points of the Golden State Warriors’ postseason to date, with an exciting regular season not correlating to a playoff campaign that’s left the second-year forward in the dust.

The 20-year-old has been left frustrated by his place outside Steve Kerr’s rotation, and he was happy to voice that to the San Francisco Chronicle’s C.J. Holmes earlier this week. But at the very minimum, Saturday’s Game 3 provided Kuminga with a second-straight opportunity to hit the floor.

Jonathan Kuminga flashed his potential in garbage minutes late in Game 3, but will it be enough to sway Steve Kerr into re-inserting him into the Golden State Warriors’ rotation?

After the Warriors dominated in a 127-100 victory in Game 2, the Lakers responded with their own blowout victory to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference Semifinals matchup. Kerr pulled the plug with just over nine minutes left in the game, allowing Kuminga some extended run albeit in complete garbage time against lesser opposition.

He responded positively, recording ten points on 3-for-4 shooting which included a couple of trips to the free-throw line. It’s hard to take much from late-game situations where the benches are playing out time, but at least it shows Kuminga hasn’t checked out after his spate on DNP’s and limited usage.

Kerr has quickly gone past Kuminga this postseason, even moving towards JaMychal Green in a starting role over the past two games. But given the biggest issue Golden State have faced over the first three games, there’s still a very real argument in bringing the former seventh overall pick back into the fold.

After a 37-17 differential on Saturday, the Lakers have now shot 44 more free-throws than the Warriors over the first three games. While some may point to debatable foul calls, the contrasting styles of both teams is an obvious and reasonable explanation behind the disparity.

Golden State’s reliance on their jump shooting has become even more exaggerated with Kuminga’s absence from the rotation. His size and athleticism aids in being one of the few Warriors capable of applying rim pressure, evident in the fact he was third on the team in free-throw attempts per 36 minutes during the regular season.

In some ways you could say Kuminga possess everything the Warriors lack right now. The only issue is that Kerr has a very precise way of playing, and the youngster doesn’t fit the meticulous nature of it come the postseason.

In this particular matchup, Kuminga’s potential attacks at the rim are likely to be off-set by the fact the Lakers won’t respect him from three. It’s the same reason Gary Payton II has seen a decline in his minutes, and why Green remained in the starting lineup despite the increased health of Kevon Looney.

Kuminga’s season is coming to a dispiriting and unsatisfactory ending, leaving a blemish on a year that promised and delivered so much. For a player who often rose to the occasion against quality opposition during the regular season, it’s quite remarkable the lack of faith Kerr has shown him over the past fortnight.