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Late in the first quarter of Game 3, Jonathan Kuminga put together quite possibly the best 10-second sequence of his career in quite possibly the best game of his NBA life.
At the rim, he rotated over to block a Jaden McDaniels dunk attempt. Then he attacked four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert on a drive, flipping in an and-1 shot over the 7-footer.
“Elite, elite,” Buddy Hield said postgame. “This is the Jonathan we missed. We know what he’s capable of. So happy for him to see him be aggressive and play basketball without second guessing himself … he feels like he got his confidence back and his feet are under him.”
The 22-year-old Kuminga dropped a playoff career-high 30 points on 11-for-18 shooting. He dunked on Anthony Edwards and hounded him for stretches defensively, leveraging his 99th percentile athleticism on both ends of the court. Kuminga, the fourth-year player, needed to keep himself ready as Steve Kerr removed him from the rotation for much of the past month under the brightest spotlights, and he did exactly what Golden State has always asked of him in Game 3.