Kerr pushes all the right buttons in Warriors’ Game 4 lineup change originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – Continuity is king to Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
If it were up to him, he wouldn’t have had to use 38 different starting lineups in the 2024-25 NBA regular season. Kerr had to search far and wide to find the right combinations that made the Warriors’ puzzle complete. On Monday in the Warriors’ 109-106 Game 4 win against the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, Kerr pushed all the right buttons in making yet another change to his starting five.
The Warriors used the same group of Steph Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody and Draymond Green that dominated down the stretch together in the regular season to open the series with a Game 1 win. That group didn’t even last the first quarter together in Game 2 when Butler’s left pelvic contusion kept him out the rest of the night. Butler’s absence in Game 3 forced Kerr to rethink everything, putting Jonathan Kuminga and Quinten Post into the starting lineup.
While the Warriors found a way to earn a win without Butler, it wasn’t because of that group. When it was announced Butler would return for Game 4, it was easy to assume Kerr would go back to his usual starters. Instead, he stuck with the hot hand and kept Moses Moody on the bench, inserting Buddy Hield, who had a phenomenal Game 3 performance, into the first five on the floor.
Hield’s ability to be a 3-point threat is ideal with how the Rockets are defending Curry, but it was his defense, often seen as a weakness, that set a tone.
The nine-year veteran making his first playoff start was tasked with defending electric guard Jalen Green from the jump, and in back-to-back sequences within the first four minutes, Hield picked his pockets clean. The first steal led to two free throws for Podziemski and the second turned into an easy fastbreak layup for Hield on the other side, pushing the Warriors’ lead to 13-2, which prompted a timeout from Rockets coach Ime Udoka.
“He took on the challenge,” Draymond Green told NBC Sports Bay Area. “Steve made that change with all belief in him, knowing that your matchup is Jalen. He made that decision with all that confidence in him that he’d go out there and take on the matchup. He won the matchup in those two possessions, because it just sped him up.
“It’s beautiful to see him take on that challenge, because obviously, what it did for our lineup. We got off to a great start, which hasn’t been the case this series. That was big time.”
Jalen Green only scored eight points, having more turnovers (five) than made shots (three).
Golden State’s offense mustered just 18 points in the first quarter of the first three games. It put up 28 in the first quarter of Game 4. Though Hield only had two of those points and missed all three of his 3-point attempts, his energy was infectious and his threat from deep shifted the layout of the floor.
Even in an up-and-down season, Hield still managed his way to a seventh straight campaign of 200 threes and always keeps a defense honest from downtown.
“Great start to the first quarter, great start to the third quarter,” Kerr said of the starting five. “I think that unit gave us more speed, more shooting and it forced some matchups for them to make the game a little more difficult.”
Down 57-50 at halftime, the Warriors regrouped and came out as the composed team that ran past the Rockets to start the third quarter. The starters went on a 13-0 run before Green had to sit with five fouls. They were trusted for the majority of clutch time in the fourth quarter, too, with Gary Payton II and Kevon Looney also coming in for short stints.
Overall, a group that only spent 27 minutes together in the regular season played 14 and a half minutes together in Game 4 and outscored the Rockets 41-20.
“That’s crazy,” Green said when I told him the unit was a plus-21.
“Obviously, it spaces the floor really well,” he continued. “Fast lineup. Those were the two keys.”
Hield, after scoring 17 points off the bench on 6-of-13 shooting from the field and 5 of 11 on threes in Game 3, wound up with 15 points in his starting role, going 6 of 15 overall and 3 of 9 beyond the arc. His scoring didn’t come in bunches, but his final three points were when the Warriors needed them most, using a side dribble to his left to evade Alperen Sengun before nailing a 3-pointer from the right wing to gain a 102-101 lead with three and a half minutes left in the game.
As the new comedy duo of the Warriors’ locker room, Butler had to give credit where credit’s due, even if it pained him to do so.
“I hate to give Buddy a compliment, so I’m not going to,” Butler joked. “But No. 7 on our team really brought the defensive mentality tonight. Made some big shots … and he stinks, I just got to add that too.”
In his 11 years with the Warriors, Kerr now has coached 144 playoff games. Monday night’s Game 4 win gave him 102 playoff victories, meeting the moment and making the right adjustment yet again.
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Kerr pushes all the right buttons in Warriors’ Game 4 lineup change
SAN FRANCISCO – Continuity is king to Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
If it were up to him, he wouldn’t have had to use 38 different starting lineups in the 2024-25 NBA regular season. Kerr had to search far and wide to find the right combinations that made the Warriors’ puzzle complete. On Monday in the Warriors’ 109-106 Game 4 win against the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, Kerr pushed all the right buttons in making yet another change to his starting five.
The Warriors used the same group of Steph Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Jimmy Butler, Moses Moody and Draymond Green that dominated down the stretch together in the regular season to open the series with a Game 1 win. That group didn’t even last the first quarter together in Game 2 when Butler’s left pelvic contusion kept him out the rest of the night. Butler’s absence in Game 3 forced Kerr to rethink everything, putting Jonathan Kuminga and Quinten Post into the starting lineup.
SIGN UP HERE While the Warriors found a way to earn a win without Butler, it wasn’t because of that group. When it was announced Butler would return for Game 4, it was easy to assume Kerr would go back to his usual starters. Instead, he stuck with the hot hand and kept Moses Moody on the bench, inserting Buddy Hield, who had a phenomenal Game 3 performance, into the first five on the floor.
Hield’s ability to be a 3-point threat is ideal with how the Rockets are defending Curry, but it was his defense, often seen as a weakness, that set a tone.
The nine-year veteran making his first playoff start was tasked with defending electric guard Jalen Green from the jump, and in back-to-back sequences within the first four minutes, Hield picked his pockets clean. The first steal led to two free throws for Podziemski and the second turned into an easy fastbreak layup for Hield on the other side, pushing the Warriors’ lead to 13-2, which prompted a timeout from Rockets coach Ime Udoka.
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“He took on the challenge,” Draymond Green told NBC Sports Bay Area. “Steve made that change with all belief in him, knowing that your matchup is Jalen. He made that decision with all that confidence in him that he’d go out there and take on the matchup. He won the matchup in those two possessions, because it just sped him up.
“It’s beautiful to see him take on that challenge, because obviously, what it did for our lineup. We got off to a great start, which hasn’t been the case this series. That was big time.”
Jalen Green only scored eight points, having more turnovers (five) than made shots (three).
Golden State’s offense mustered just 18 points in the first quarter of the first three games. It put up 28 in the first quarter of Game 4. Though Hield only had two of those points and missed all three of his 3-point attempts, his energy was infectious and his threat from deep shifted the layout of the floor.
Even in an up-and-down season, Hield still managed his way to a seventh straight campaign of 200 threes and always keeps a defense honest from downtown.
“Great start to the first quarter, great start to the third quarter,” Kerr said of the starting five. “I think that unit gave us more speed, more shooting and it forced some matchups for them to make the game a little more difficult.”
Down 57-50 at halftime, the Warriors regrouped and came out as the composed team that ran past the Rockets to start the third quarter. The starters went on a 13-0 run before Green had to sit with five fouls. They were trusted for the majority of clutch time in the fourth quarter, too, with Gary Payton II and Kevon Looney also coming in for short stints.
Overall, a group that only spent 27 minutes together in the regular season played 14 and a half minutes together in Game 4 and outscored the Rockets 41-20.
“That’s crazy,” Green said when I told him the unit was a plus-21.
“Obviously, it spaces the floor really well,” he continued. “Fast lineup. Those were the two keys.”
Hield, after scoring 17 points off the bench on 6-of-13 shooting from the field and 5 of 11 on threes in Game 3, wound up with 15 points in his starting role, going 6 of 15 overall and 3 of 9 beyond the arc. His scoring didn’t come in bunches, but his final three points were when the Warriors needed them most, using a side dribble to his left to evade Alperen Sengun before nailing a 3-pointer from the right wing to gain a 102-101 lead with three and a half minutes left in the game.
As the new comedy duo of the Warriors’ locker room, Butler had to give credit where credit’s due, even if it pained him to do so.
“I hate to give Buddy a compliment, so I’m not going to,” Butler joked. “But No. 7 on our team really brought the defensive mentality tonight. Made some big shots … and he stinks, I just got to add that too.”
In his 11 years with the Warriors, Kerr now has coached 144 playoff games. Monday night’s Game 4 win gave him 102 playoff victories, meeting the moment and making the right adjustment yet again.
Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast
