Why Kerr's Justification of Kuminga's Benching vs. Timberwolves Makes No Sense

The Golden State Warriors got destroyed inside in their 127-120 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Big men Julius Randle (27), Rudy Gobert (24) and Naz Reid (18) combined for 69 points on 25-of-41 shooting. Overall, the Timberwolves outscored the Warriors 66-44 in the paint.

Draymond Green (personal reasons) and Al Horford (sciatica) were ruled before the game, so the Warriors had more of a need to play bigger players than usual.

Yet Jonathan Kuminga (67") didn't play at all and Gui Santos (6'7") played just six minutes.

Kerr's Quote on Kuminga's Benching

Kerr was asked after the game about Kuminga's second DNP in a row.

"Right now it's where things are," Kerr said. "You saw Gui come in for six minutes and he lit up the crowd with his energy and the ball movement. That was maybe the best stretch of the game for our offense, just with flow. With Pat [Spencer] playing as well as he is, it's just where it is right now. It can change very quickly, as you all know."

Should Kuminga Have Played?

In the four games prior to his benching on Sunday, Kuminga averaged 7.8 points on 30 percent shooting. He had eight assists and eight turnovers in this stretch.

Put simply, his benching against Chicago was deserved.

But it's a different calculus when the Warriors are undersized and going up against a team Kuminga scored on relentlessly in the playoffs last year.

Even if the Dubs have all but decided that they are trading Kuminga when first eligible on Jan. 15, they should use him when the situation calls for it.

But I'm less baffled by the decision to sit Kuminga and more baffled by the quote itself.

If Santos Was So Good, Why Didn't He Play More?

Kerr is right that Santos brought great energy in his five-minute stretch in the second quarter. He played that entire stretch with Quinten Post, and in that stretch they didn't look so helpless defending the paint.

Despite that, Santos didn't play again until the 7:23 mark of the fourth quarter. When he checked in, the Wolves were aleady on an 11-0 run that changed the game. At 6'6", Jimmy Butler was the power forward for that stretch. The other players on the court were guards Moses Moody (6'5"), Brandin Podziemski (6'4") and Spencer (6'2") and Post.

Gobert got a putback dunk. Rob Dillingham had a driving layup. Terrence Shannon Jr. had a driving layup. And then the last played truly illustrated how much of a disadvantage the Warriors were in.

Moody was guarding Naz Reid, which is already a mismatch, but Reid set a ball screen that made the Warriors switch, which set up an even better matchup against Spencer. Reid posted up Spencer at the elbow. Post had to help to prevent a layup, so Reid dropped it off to Gobert for one of the easiest baskets you'll ever see.

Would Santos had prevented all four of these layups/dunks? Probably not. But he would've put up more resistance than the Warriors' small lineup did.

Santos checked back in for a little more than a minute. In his stretch, Spencer missed two wide-open threes on one possession, Curry missed a wide-open two on the next, and Curry missed an open three on the next. The Wolves scored on all three possessions, and Santos sat for the rest of the game.

Too Guard-Heavy

This isn't to say that Santos is the solution for all of their size problems. But he's a better bet than a) playing four-guard lineups against the Wolves and b) forcing Butler to play power forward minutes for virtually the whole game, which might have tired him out on the offensive end.

I'd consider Butler, Santos and Kuminga forwards, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Post centers, and the rest of the available players from Friday's game guards.

The Warriors got 48 minutes from their centers, 43 minutes from their forwards and 149 minutes from their guards.

A normal roster would have 48 minutes from their centers, 96 minutes from their forwards and 96 minutes from their guards.

The bottom line is when Green is out, Kerr needs to trust Santos and Kuminga more.