OAKLAND – It has become apparent what kind of season the Warriors are going to get from young center Damian Jones.
There will be good games. There will be games they’d like to forget. And there will be games like that which was played Saturday night at Oracle Arena.
The kind of game the Warriors would like to bottle and use as the exemplar.
With our All Access Daily newsletter, stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams!
SIGN UP HERE Jones scored 13 points, adding six rebounds and one assist in a 117-116 win over the Sacramento Kings. He played 21 minutes and finished a team-best plus-14. He started well, scoring seven of the team’s first nine points, and stayed with it.
[RELATED: Warriors-Kings not yet a rivalry, but matchup starting to matter]
“Damian looked angry out there to start the game, which I was glad to see,” coach Steve Kerr said. “He hasn’t played well the last couple games, so it was good to see his aggression. He got us off to a quick start with some early hoops.”
The key word there is “angry.” One of the knocks on Jones is that he lacks court awareness, a feel for what’s going on around him. The other is that he is too nice, too passive and too polite to succeed in the paint, where the game is most rugged.
Golden State Warriors
Find the latest Golden State Warriors news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
So, anger is, well, desired. And it’s that much better if it comes in a 7-foot package with fantastic athleticism.
The 13 points are more than Jones scored over 76 minutes in the previous four games combined. The six rebounds are more than he grabbed over 54 minutes in the previous three contests.
The difference on Saturday was more mental than physical, which Jones attributed to his mother, Dana, who was in town for the Thanksgiving holiday.
“I had a long conversation with my mom before she left,” Jones said. “Just talking about different things. I pretty much just came to my senses and changed my mindset about things.”
Jones, 23, said he played with a “clear mind,” that he was focused on the team, but also on himself. That may have helped, for there is no doubt Jones is one of the young players constantly being showered with advice from veterans and coaches.
This is his first season dedicated to the NBA and the “advisors" see his potential, but don’t know if he does. They want him to prosper, but can’t tell how badly he wants to.
On this night, he wanted it and got it. At issue now is whether he’ll want it consistently.