Facing elimination, Houston is ’emotionally invested’ on every play and steps up defensively to send the series back to the Bay Area.
TNT’s announcers sounded a lot more emotionally invested Wednesday in the whereabouts of Golden State’s starters late in Game 5 than Warriors coach Steve Kerr looked.
Kerr had pulled his first unit with 5:50 left in the third quarter, not necessarily a white flag but a nod to reality at Houston’s Toyota Center. The Warriors, down 27 points at halftime, had slipped a bit more to trail by 29. That’s when Kerr went full anti-JJ Redick, emptying his bench and – other than 2:31 of Buddy Hield in the fourth – sticking with reserves for the rest of the night.
In all, 13 different Golden State players touched the floor in the second half. And not only did the backups do no worse than the starters, they actually helped the Warriors alter the feel and possibly the impact of Houston’s 131-116 victory.
With the Rockets avoiding elimination but still trailing 3-2, here are five takeaways as the best-of-seven series shifts back to Chase Center in San Francisco for Friday’s Game 6 (9 ET, ESPN).
1. The Rockets’ early statement
Let’s not get it twisted: This game was defined by Houston’s torrid start, because even Golden State’s late resiliency wouldn’t have been possible if Houston hadn’t blown out the visitors over the first 30 minutes.
The Rockets needed to flex early, the surest way to shake off their deflating one-possession loss Sunday in Game 4 (leading 57-50 at the half, they lost 109-106). They dominated so thoroughly into the third quarter that they seemed capable of the impossible: Having one victory count as two.
“At halftime, their effective field goal [percentage] was 95%,” Kerr said. “I’ve never seen that in my life. You’re not winning that game.”
Houston’s shooting at the break looked like something Golden State might have posted in days of yore: 69.4% overall (25-of-36), 60% from three (9-of-15) and 85% from the line (17-of-20).
Five Warriors fouls in less than five minutes fueled a 15-0 Rockets run that soon became 26-5. Houston’s zone defense proved effective at the other end when coach Ime Udoka deployed it, too. Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler, Golden State’s stars and leaders, were scoreless until four minutes into the second quarter.
2. Houston got its guys going
Such a lopsided start for the home team meant that multiple Rockets had things working. Two in particular were guards Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet, who had been inconsistent through the series’ first four games.
Green had become a lightning road for criticism and something of a barometer for his team. He had 38 points in Game 2, which Houston won, but managed only 7, 9 and 8 points in the three defeats. He shot 10-of-34 in those losses, continuing to be more of a tease than the scoring star many expected when he went No. 2 in the 2021 draft.
VanVleet, one of the few Rockets with extensive playoff experience, began the series slowly: 11.3 points while shooting 6-for-29 from 3-point range in Games 1-3. He perked up with 25 points Sunday, and backed that up with 19 more to lead all scorers in the first half Wednesday.
VanVleet finished with 26. Green brought up the rear among the Rockets’ starters with just 11. But he was aggressive early, maybe an improved approach for whatever is left of the series.
3. Warriors: Stirred, not shaken
Camera shots of the visitors’ bench in the final quarter revealed a lot of smiling, laughing, chatting. Enough that someone tuning in late, unaware of the score, might have assumed Golden State was the team on the sunny side of the lopsided deficit.
Nope. The Warriors were losing, yet they were winning. Those reserves Kerr threw out there eventually were matched up by Udoka’s bench guys. And Golden State owned that battle.
From 107-80 to start the fourth, it used a 19-5 run over the first 6:22 of the period to pull within 13. Compared to all that had preceded it, this suddenly looked like a game the Warriors might steal. Would Kerr go back to his starters? No. But he did prompt Udoka to send back his, a small victory for wear and tear and a psychological edge that might pay off Friday.
Kerr was delighted with his bench’s pluckiness, which accounted for 76 points.
“They forced Houston to bring their starters back,” he said. “They set a tone that we’re going to need for Game 6. And even though we lost the game, I thought it was crucial that we fought the way we did in the fourth quarter. It was an important finish.”
For the record, though, Golden State might have tweaked the Rockets fans’ nerves, but it never got closer than 13 points. And bringing back Curry, Butler and the other starters after they had cooled down was, well, a non-starter for Kerr.
“You can’t go back to ‘em,” he sad. “It’s just not the right thing to do.”
4. Too much Hack-a-Steph?
Curry has been playing and practicing with his right thumb taped, an injury he hasn’t addressed much publicly. But his coach spoke after Game 5 of Houston defenders targeting Curry’s hand, focused on creating contact whenever they can, particularly “on every release” of his shots.
That’s within the rules, not considered a foul once the ball is released. Kerr said the league’s coaches are unanimous in wanting that sort of contact re-classified.
As Kerr made his case at the postgame presser, though, NBA TV showed multiple highlights of Curry shooting Wednesday – with his hand never getting touched in the selected clips.
Asked how he would respond to a Golden State broadcaster’s claim that Dillon Brooks specifically whacked Curry’s hand, Udoka simply said: “I wouldn’t.”
5. Familiarity breeds feistiness
This series started with plenty of bumping and holding. Five games in, such physicality has increased. And this time, some lesser-used Warriors were the night’s biggest aggressors.
A skirmish deep in the fourth began when Golden State’s Pat Spencer shoved Rockets tough guy Dillon Brooks across the baseline. Spencer stalked off, only to be bumped by Houston center Alperen Sengun.
Spencer and Sengun squared up nose-to-nose, until Spencer head-butted the taller man. At the same time, the Warriors’ Trayce Jackson-Davis hurried over to give Sengun a two-handed shove, bringing Kerr, Udoka and other coaches onto the court.
When the smoke cleared from the initial foul, the technicals and the free throws, Houston had nudged its lead to 117-101. The tone and texture of the Rockets’ series survival had changed, nicely setting up Game 6.
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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