Gui Santos delivers Warriors a reminder of how they must win games

By / / Sports / 5 minutes of reading


DETROIT — About 10 minutes after the Golden State Warriors narrowly escaped the Detroit Pistons with a 107-104 road win to open this consequential four-game trip, their unlikely hero, the hustling Gui Santos, finally wrapped up his postgame media duties on the court and returned to the locker room. The ovation awaiting him could be heard from down the hallway. His teammates erupted in celebration.

“Deserved,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

Santos is the 14th man in a rotation Kerr once stretched as far as 13. He’s the odd man all the way out unless enough injuries and absences on the wing force him into action.

Thursday night, they did. Jonathan Kuminga has shed the crutches but is in a walking boot, still in the early stages of a return from a bad ankle sprain. Moses Moody rested on the front side of a back-to-back with a knee issue. Brandin Podziemski and Gary Payton II are still sidelined. Andrew Wiggins is briefly away from the team for a personal matter.

So Santos figured his number would be called, and he was correct. Kerr put him into the game at the 3:54 mark of the first quarter with the Warriors trailing 17-14. Within 18 seconds, he nailed a corner 3 to tie the score.

Santos had a slick assist to Trayce Jackson-Davis a couple of minutes later and opened the second quarter with two more 3s. His third of the first half put the Warriors up 45-35. Santos has worked tirelessly on his 3-point shot the last few seasons in the Warriors’ program. It is the skill that will define whether he has a long NBA career.

“Today was the day you can see I’m working on it,” Santos said.

Santos made four of his six 3s in the win. Lindy Waters III went 3-of-7. Buddy Hield, badly in need of a breakout night, had one in a spot start in place of Wiggins, hitting five of his 11 from deep. Those 12 makes carried the offense enough on a night when Steph Curry didn’t have it, finishing 5-of-21 overall and 2-of-14 on 3s.

But there’s a reason Santos was singled out by his teammates after the game. It wasn’t the four makes from 3. It was the scrap rebounds, the sneaky steals, the transition hustle, the loose-ball wins.

“This game is about so much more than whether you make a shot or miss a shot,” Kerr said. “It’s defense, it’s rebounding, it’s hustle, sprinting. Everything you saw Gui do tonight, that’s what wins games.”

Here’s an example of it in the third quarter: Curry gets an open look on the right wing and misses it. When Curry lines it up, no Warriors are in position to grab an offensive rebound. Three Pistons are closer to the ricochet.

But keep an eye on Santos, beginning in the left corner. He tosses Malik Beasley aside, then dives to the ground to tip the ball away from Isaiah Stewart before he can corral it. The loose ball trickles to Kyle Anderson, who was credited for the offensive rebound. But this possession was all Santos, who didn’t register a stat during the sequence but delivered the Warriors 2 extra points. Waters made a jumper a few seconds later.

Here’s another example from the second quarter. The clip begins with a Hield miss from the right wing. Santos, again, isn’t in a great position for a rebound. But he outmaneuvers Simone Fontecchio and Tobias Harris, tipping it away from both and then chasing it down. Then he immediately finds Hield for a reload 3. He cashes in the second chance, 3 extra points due to Santos’ extra effort.

Kerr rewatched the tape of that ugly home loss to the Miami Heat two nights prior and didn’t mention the 6-of-31 shooting line from the Warriors players not named Curry. He believed they lost that game in the hustle categories.

“It’s losing all those little battles,” Kerr said. “It’s not rotating, not boxing out, not making the extra pass, not making a good sharp pass. Everything that leads to rhythm and momentum we didn’t do the other night.”

Santos did do those things against the Pistons, and because of it, Kerr gave him 26 minutes. He’ll likely get another rotation chance at the Indianapolis Pacers on Friday night with the Warriors’ lineup still depleted.

“We talked before the game about, ‘How many battles can you win?’” Kerr said. “Little battles in the game. He won a million battles tonight. That’s what wins games. He’s been waiting all year, and he finally got his chance, and he delivered. That’s what this league is about. Ron Adams talks about it all the time. It’s a production league. You get your chance, and you have to take advantage of it.”

(Photo of Gui Santos and Ausar Thompson: Rick Osentoski / Imagn Images)





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Avatar of Traci Russell
Traci Russell is a writer from News Trolley. She writes about arts, construction, automotive, travel, and fashion. She has a deep love for anything related to art, so it's no surprise that she loves writing about the world of photography and its impact on contemporary culture. When she's not writing, she can be found at her local coffee shop reading up on the latest news in construction or remodeling.

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