SAN FRANCISCO – There was no panic among the Warriors’ veterans on Wednesday night, none of the team’s superstar core seemingly all that concerned with dropping Game 5 of their first-round series against Houston on Wednesday.
After the 131-116 loss that saw coach Steve Kerr yank the starters in the middle of the third quarter, Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green calmly assessed the many things that went wrong.
Throughout their public diagnosis, a sense of “we’ve been here before and know what to do” pervaded their statements.
The Warriors missed their chance at ending the series in five games, but are still up 3-2 with a trip back to the Bay on the schedule.
“We turned the page quickly,” Green said. “We just started talking about possible adjustments we can make, things we see, stuff we can get into.”
With Game 6 set for 6 p.m. Friday, here’s what Golden State needs to do to advance to the second round and a showdown with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Stay out of foul trouble
Golden State had four fouls in the first four minutes of play, and got into the bonus at the 7:44 mark of the first quarter. That barrage of fouls helped Houston get to the line 13 times during the fourth quarter, where the usually shaky Rockets made every single one.
And those fouls could not be blamed on youthful inexperience. Green, Butler and 32-year-old Buddy Hield each had one foul, and Curry was called for two.
“I didn’t have them ready to play, clearly,” Kerr said. “We committed three fouls in the first two minutes of the game … We can’t come out with that lack of defensive focus and energy and expect to beat a great team in a closeout game.”
Get to the line
Along those same (free-throw) lines, it would certainly help the Warriors to get a few easy points early in the game. They did not attempt a single foul shot until the middle of the second quarter, when Gui Santos split a pair to make it 54-25 at the 6:53 mark.
This is an area where the team has gotten help from Butler, who said he’s feeling slightly better each day as he recovers from a pelvis injury sustained in Game 2.
Butler averaged a team-high 7.7 free-throw attempts per game in the regular season, and shot 12-of-12 from the stripe in a Game 4 victory. Butler shot just five in 25 minutes in Game 5, but has proven he can draw fouls with the best of them in a much larger sample size.
“We’re fine,” Butler said. “Our confidence is unwavering, and we know we can start out better, and play better.”
Force Jalen Green to beat you
Fresno-area native Jalen Green remains an offensive enigma for the Rockets. At his explosive, athletic and shotmaking best, he scored 38 points on an array of tough jumpers in Houston’s Game 2 victory.
But he has also been held to under 12 points in each of the other four games, the lowlight coming when Buddy Hield locked him up on multiple possessions during Game 4. He has shot just 13 of 42 outside of Game 2, and has been an inconsistent playmaker.
The Warriors could be well served to take their chances with Green gunning out of the pick-and-roll, and not the hot-shooting Fred VanVleet (12 3-pointers made and 51 combined points over the last two games).
Stay composed
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Game 5 was so uncompetitive that it took until late in the fourth quarter, when the Warriors’ reserves made a comeback and forced the Houston starters back into the game, to see either team get a technical.
That has not been the case for most of the series, as Tari Eason, Dillon Brooks and Alperen Sengun have done their best to muddy up the game and try to get into the heads of Green and the Warriors’ vets.
Before and during the series, Kerr has stressed the importance of maintaining poise. The Warriors have done a decent job of it so far, and that will need to continue in Game 6.