What we learned as Warriors lose Game 6 to Rockets, face winner-take-all Game 7 originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – After holding a three-games-to-one lead, the Warriors now will board a plane and fly back to Houston for Game 7 after dropping a second straight game to the Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The Warriors were blown out in Houston on Wednesday, only to return home and lose Game 6 on Friday night at Chase Center 115-107.
Steph Curry scored an inefficient 29 points and made six 3-pointers. Jimmy Butler also didn’t have his best game but finished right behind Curry with 27 points. They didn’t receive any help from the rest of the Warriors.
The remainder of the starting five scored 13 points.
All the flaws of the Warriors were seen on their home floor. Their age, lack of size and shooting crushed them. The Rockets played like both the better and more experienced team, erasing the Warriors’ pedigree and putting Golden State on the ropes as this series moves to a win-or-go-home game on Houston’s home floor.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ Game 6 loss.
Good And Bad Of Game 6 Steph
Between poor decisions and bad passes, Curry looked extremely frustrated with himself during the first half. At one point, he had twice as many turnovers (four) as made shots (two) while also being whistled for two fouls. Once Curry picked up his third foul when there were a little under four minutes left in the second quarter, Steve Kerr had no choice but to keep him in.
An Amen Thompson free throw off Curry’s foul made it an 11-point game, and it felt worse than that. But Steph found a spark. He stopped waiting for a screen and took over, going on an 11-0 run of his own to tie the game at 46 points apiece.
Curry, because of his second-quarter flurry, was up to a game-high 16 points at halftime, and while he didn’t dominate the third quarter, he did score another 10 points in the third quarter to give him 26 going into the fourth. He only scored three more points, and wound up a minus-11 with a game-high five turnovers.
The Warriors needed a heroic effort out of Curry. There were spurts, but not long stretches.
Another Experiment
One day after the Warriors’ Game 5 loss in Houston, coach Steve Kerr let it be known that anything was on the table regarding his starting lineup for Game 6. Kerr kept Buddy Hield as part of his first five, but sent Brandin Podziemski to the bench. In came the positionless Gary Payton II.
This isn’t just a group that has little experience together. They had none. They didn’t share the floor together once in the regular season, and hadn’t at all in the first five games of the first round of the playoffs before Friday night. When Kerr made his first substitution, bringing Podziemski in for Hield, the Warriors were down 11-7, but four of those Houston points were a result of Draymond Green’s Flagrant 1 just three minutes into the game.
Starting Payton puts Alperen Sengun into pick-and-roll actions, but having GP2 and Green on the floor together means the Warriors are with two non-shooters. The starters played the first five-plus minutes together and were a minus-4. They didn’t see the floor again as a unit until the start of the second half.
The starting five didn’t exactly dominate to open the third quarter either. They played a total of eight minutes and 51 seconds on the night and were outscored 23-18. Hield, for the second straight game, was an absolute no-show, going scoreless in 17 minutes. Payton was cooked by Fred VanVleet (29 points and six threes) and was a minus-12 in 20 minutes.
Simple Truths
Golden State’s biggest lead was two points when Moses Moody made a 3-pointer to make it a 19-17 game with three and a half minutes to go in the first quarter. From that point on, the Rockets simply were the better team. They had an answer whenever it seemed like the Warriors had gained momentum.
When Curry scored 11 consecutive points in the second quarter, the Rockets answered with a 5-0 run. When the Warriors scored the final four points of the third quarter, the Rockets opened the fourth on a 6-0 run. The Warriors countered with a 4-0 run, only for the Rockets to then go on a 14-1 run before a Flagrant 1 foul on Sengun gave Butler two free throws and the Warriors the ball out of bounds.
As it has been all series, the Warriors couldn’t break the length and athleticism of the Rockets’ zone defense. The Warriors’ best offense was rebounding and getting out in transition, but that wasn’t easy to rely on. While the Warriors had 17 more fastbreak points and made three more threes, the Rockets won nearly every other important category.
It felt like the Rockets were able to grab all the long rebounds and 50/50 balls, too, which sucked out any energy from the home crowd.
Curry and Butler combined to score 48 points through three quarters. The rest of the Warriors had scored 36 points. The final tally was Curry plus Butler 56 points, and 51 points for their teammates.
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What we learned as Warriors lose Game 6 to Rockets, face winner-take-all Game 7
SAN FRANCISCO – After holding a three-games-to-one lead, the Warriors now will board a plane and fly back to Houston for Game 7 after dropping a second straight game to the Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
The Warriors were blown out in Houston on Wednesday, only to return home and lose Game 6 on Friday night at Chase Center 115-107.
SIGN UP HERE Steph Curry scored an inefficient 29 points and made six 3-pointers. Jimmy Butler also didn’t have his best game but finished right behind Curry with 27 points. They didn’t receive any help from the rest of the Warriors.
The remainder of the starting five scored 13 points.
All the flaws of the Warriors were seen on their home floor. Their age, lack of size and shooting crushed them. The Rockets played like both the better and more experienced team, erasing the Warriors’ pedigree and putting Golden State on the ropes as this series moves to a win-or-go-home game on Houston’s home floor.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ Game 6 loss.
Golden State Warriors
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Good And Bad Of Game 6 Steph
Between poor decisions and bad passes, Curry looked extremely frustrated with himself during the first half. At one point, he had twice as many turnovers (four) as made shots (two) while also being whistled for two fouls. Once Curry picked up his third foul when there were a little under four minutes left in the second quarter, Steve Kerr had no choice but to keep him in.
An Amen Thompson free throw off Curry’s foul made it an 11-point game, and it felt worse than that. But Steph found a spark. He stopped waiting for a screen and took over, going on an 11-0 run of his own to tie the game at 46 points apiece.
Curry, because of his second-quarter flurry, was up to a game-high 16 points at halftime, and while he didn’t dominate the third quarter, he did score another 10 points in the third quarter to give him 26 going into the fourth. He only scored three more points, and wound up a minus-11 with a game-high five turnovers.
The Warriors needed a heroic effort out of Curry. There were spurts, but not long stretches.
Another Experiment
One day after the Warriors’ Game 5 loss in Houston, coach Steve Kerr let it be known that anything was on the table regarding his starting lineup for Game 6. Kerr kept Buddy Hield as part of his first five, but sent Brandin Podziemski to the bench. In came the positionless Gary Payton II.
This isn’t just a group that has little experience together. They had none. They didn’t share the floor together once in the regular season, and hadn’t at all in the first five games of the first round of the playoffs before Friday night. When Kerr made his first substitution, bringing Podziemski in for Hield, the Warriors were down 11-7, but four of those Houston points were a result of Draymond Green’s Flagrant 1 just three minutes into the game.
Starting Payton puts Alperen Sengun into pick-and-roll actions, but having GP2 and Green on the floor together means the Warriors are with two non-shooters. The starters played the first five-plus minutes together and were a minus-4. They didn’t see the floor again as a unit until the start of the second half.
The starting five didn’t exactly dominate to open the third quarter either. They played a total of eight minutes and 51 seconds on the night and were outscored 23-18. Hield, for the second straight game, was an absolute no-show, going scoreless in 17 minutes. Payton was cooked by Fred VanVleet (29 points and six threes) and was a minus-12 in 20 minutes.
Simple Truths
Golden State’s biggest lead was two points when Moses Moody made a 3-pointer to make it a 19-17 game with three and a half minutes to go in the first quarter. From that point on, the Rockets simply were the better team. They had an answer whenever it seemed like the Warriors had gained momentum.
When Curry scored 11 consecutive points in the second quarter, the Rockets answered with a 5-0 run. When the Warriors scored the final four points of the third quarter, the Rockets opened the fourth on a 6-0 run. The Warriors countered with a 4-0 run, only for the Rockets to then go on a 14-1 run before a Flagrant 1 foul on Sengun gave Butler two free throws and the Warriors the ball out of bounds.
As it has been all series, the Warriors couldn’t break the length and athleticism of the Rockets’ zone defense. The Warriors’ best offense was rebounding and getting out in transition, but that wasn’t easy to rely on. While the Warriors had 17 more fastbreak points and made three more threes, the Rockets won nearly every other important category.
It felt like the Rockets were able to grab all the long rebounds and 50/50 balls, too, which sucked out any energy from the home crowd.
Curry and Butler combined to score 48 points through three quarters. The rest of the Warriors had scored 36 points. The final tally was Curry plus Butler 56 points, and 51 points for their teammates.
Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast
