Warriors' early fears about veteran guard may have been premature

Gary Payton II recently saw his first active DNPs in years with the Golden State Warriors, but early fears on the completely dwindling impact of the veteran guard may be a little premature.

After finding himself out of the rotation, Payton has been perhaps the biggest beneficiary of Jonathan Kuminga's absence over the past 1.5 games due to knee tendinitis.

Gary Payton II has delivered in big moments over the last two games

While Payton didn't pour in big numbers or even consistently play well over the last two games, he did deliver for Steve Kerr and the Warriors in the biggest moments during their back-to-back wins over the San Antonio Spurs.

The 32-year-old had four points, six rebounds and two assists in just under 15 minutes on Wednesday at Frost Bank Center. Four of his six boards came on the offensive end, including two crucial ones on the same possession in the fourth-quarter which led to an important Stephen Curry 3-pointer just as the Spurs were trying to make their run.

Payton's first stint during the first-half on Friday was underwhelming with a pair of turnovers and a couple of poor finishers at the rim, yet he more than made up for that with two huge 3-pointers right when the Warriors needed them late in the fourth-quarter.

There's little doubt that Payton is a major offensive liability and that teams will continue to leave him wide open beyond the arc, making it all the more imperative that he makes them pay when the opportunities arise.

That's just what he did on Friday against the Spurs, capitalizing on a defense that was solely focused on Curry who was torching them on his way to a season-high 49 points on 9-of-17 shooting from 3-point range.

Payton made just two of his seven field-goal attempts on the night, yet those pair of 3-pointers felt even bigger than what they say in the box score given the time of the game and the fact Golden State battled back to claim a thrilling 109-108 victory.

Just as importantly as those two threes, Payton got a strong contest on De'Aaron Fox's potentially game-winning jump-shot at the buzzer which rimmed out. His minutes in the last two games during clutch time proves Steve Kerr still has trust in Payton even when many fans don't, and in fairness to both it paid off significantly with back-to-back wins just as the Warriors were headed into a crisis.