The Warriors win their first road game of the season against the Houston Rockets as Klay Thompson hits 10 threes in a 41-point night.
The Jekyll and Hyde relationship between the Warriors' starting lineup and their second unit, Klay Thompson's big night, Steve Kerr's second-unit adjustments in the fourth quarter, and more.
The first half of tonight’s game followed a depressing and similar plot to some of the Warriors’ embarrassing early-season losses; the starters kicked ass and the bench was terrible. What was striking about tonight’s first half was just how extreme that juxtaposition was.
The Warriors’ starters climbed out to a 28-15 lead as Klay Thompson hit his first six shots en route to an 18-point quarter. Klay’s shots came in rhythm and were part of a Warriors’ attack fueled by a breakneck pace and snap decisions — this was the Warriors at their best and by the end of the quarter, they’d tallied 40 points.
On the other hand, the Warriors' bench allowed a young and athletic Rockets team to go on a 15-2 run and only scored two points in their non-Steph Curry minutes. The second unit’s approach on offense didn’t do them any favors. In nearly six minutes without Curry, the Warriors shot 6 times from deep and missed all of those attempts. Jonathan Kuminga, who got his first minutes of the game in the second quarter, missed two wide-open shots that he probably should have passed up, Donte DiVincenzo and Jordan Poole each missed an attempt, and Andrew Wiggins missed two shots from deep. The shot selection of Kuminga and the Warriors’ second unit called to mind a recent quote by Draymond Green about the offense that their benches of yore ran:
I think it’s a lot different. For the most part, coming off the bench, we’ve had kind of an elder statesman, if you will. [Someone] that would come off the bench, kind of slow things down, right the ship. And it’s different now, where you come off the bench, and the reality is, the first guy you come off the bench with is usually JP. And JP is a sixth starter. And so that’s a different feel.
And I think when you’re starting to get more guys in there, and it’s turning into the second unit, as opposed to more of the first unit guys. Whereas it used to be a kind of a different offense, if you will. It’s more like the same. And I think we have to figure that out in that second unit and understand that, you know, what you’re accustomed to is, Steph goes out the game and the whole offense changes, and it’s more sets. But with Jordan is still going to be more of the same as you get with Steph, and I think guys have to really adjust to that, and it’s taken some time to adjust to that."
To that point, I get that the Warriors’ motion offense isn’t the same beast when it’s Jordan Poole running around hoping that Anthony Lamb or JaMychal Green finds him with a pass or frees him up with a screen while Jonathan Kuminga and Donte DiVincenzo spot up. But rushing up shots isn’t a viable solution. As the Warriors’ second unit repeatedly fired up the first open shots they walked into, the Rockets ran it back on the Warriors and aggressively attacked the hoop. When Steph Curry subbed back into the game, the Rockets led by only one point, and the momentum they’d gained in non-Steph minutes carried into the final minutes of the half as they took a four-point lead going into halftime.
That huge second-quarter Rockets run put the Warriors’ starters in the unfortunate position of having to claw their lead back. Unfortunately, the young Rockets, buoyed by their second-quarter surge, went shot for shot with the Warriors (and more specifically, Andrew Wiggins) in the early minutes of the quarter and staved off what would have otherwise been a trademark third-quarter run by the Warriors. The Warriors survived the Rockets’ best punch and briefly took a one-point lead, but with less than a minute left, they trailed by five points. Through a hilarious sequence of events that included a bailout three by Jordan Poole and an 8-second violation by the Rockets, the Warriors ended the quarter up three points, which gave them the cushion to survive their non-Steph Curry minutes in the fourth quarter.
A re-vamped second unit featuring a Draymond Green/JaMychal Green frontcourt held down the fort and paved the way for the Splash Brothers, as they have so many times in the past, to put the game away with huge and clutch three-point shooting.
By the end of the night, Klay Thompson had scored 41 points on 20 shots, including 10/13 shooting from three, Curry had scored 33 points, dished out 15 assists against just one turnover, and Andrew Wiggins had added 22 points on 6/11 shooting from three. Wiggins’ three-point shooting in the early third quarter was perhaps, the most timely shooting of the game as it prevented the Rockets from pulling away for good, which made his late-game foul of KPJ’s three a little bit less agonizing.
Some other notes:
Klay Thompson’s shot-making was explosive and very obviously rejuvenating. But I also enjoyed seeing Thompson be attentive off-ball and pick up deflections on backdoor cuts.
Anthony Lamb, Moses Moody, and Jonathan Kuminga combined for 14 minutes, 2 points, 3 rebounds, an assist, 4 turnovers, and 1/3 shooting from the field. I thought Moody was the least damaging of the three players tonight and if Kuminga has another night like tonight where he takes shots that Steve Kerr obviously doesn’t want him to take, I think Moody could get more shots at rotation minutes, especially if Draymond Green gets more minutes in the second unit.
Donte DiVincenzo played big minutes in the fourth quarter and had another solid night, despite not hitting any of his three-point attempts. DDV was solid on the boards, but what was more notable to me was that he made his only two layup attempts, both off of cuts.
Before we get into rotation watch a quick admission: I didn’t take notes during the first half of tonight’s game because I was watching covertly during my grandpa’s 88th birthday party. He was as funny and charming as he’s been in quite some time, which was a really beautiful thing to see because memory loss has made him a shell of the man that played a big role in my life when I grew up in the Bay Area. Tonight, he had to be reminded that it was his birthday — “I’m how old?” — but he enjoyed his carrot cake and the company and that made me happy. To bring it back to the game, because I didn’t take notes in the first half, I’m only going to include the subbing patterns in the first and second quarters of rotation watch.
Rotation watch:
1st Q:
12:00 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/D. Green/Looney: 0-0, tie game.
4:46 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/D. Green/J. Green: 28-15, Warriors lead.
3:03 — Curry/DiVincenzo/Poole/Lamb/J. Green: 32-18, Warriors lead.
0:54 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Kuminga/Lamb/J. Green: 38-28, Warriors lead.
2nd Q:
12:00 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Kuminga/Lamb/Looney: 40-28, Warriors lead.
10:36 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Wiggins/Kuminga/Looney: 40-33, Warriors lead.
9:49 — Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Kuminga/Looney: 40-39, Warriors lead.
6:27 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/D. Green/J. Green: 42-43, Rockets lead.
2:53 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/D. Green: 50-55, Rockets lead.
3rd Q:
12:00 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/D. Green/Looney: 61-65, Rockets lead.
5:29 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/Looney: 81-83, Rockets lead.
3:58 — Curry/DiVincenzo/Poole/Wiggins/J. Green: 82-84, Rockets lead.
1:09 — Curry/DiVincenzo/Poole/Moody/J. Green: 89-92, Rockets lead.
0:16 — Curry/DiVincenzo/Poole/Moody/Thompson: 94-94, tie game.
In a fair and just world, the Warriors’ explosive offense in the early minutes of the third quarter would have given them a lead. Andrew Wiggins was absolutely scintillating in the early third quarter as he hit two threes early in the shot clock and then hit a much-needed one off an offensive rebound. Why was that Wiggins three much needed? Well, the Rockets shot four shots deep before Steve Kerr called a timeout at the 3:27 mark of the period with his team down by three points.
After that timeout, the Warriors did manage to cut the Rockets’ lead down to just a point, but foul trouble, particularly, three fouls by Steph Curry kept the Warriors from gaining more momentum. When the Warriors’ bench players not named Jordan Poole started to sub into lineups with Steph, the Warriors trailed by just a single point. The Warriors took a two-point lead at the 2:55 mark when Steph Curry hit a transition three, but about a minute and a half, Kevin Porter Jr. hit a step-back three in the corner to the Rockets up by three points with under two minutes left.
The Rockets scored on the next possession and things looked bleak for the Warriors when Donte DiVincenzo, with just less than a minute left, dribbled into traffic and nearly threw the ball away at the baseline. But the Warriors managed to recover the ball on that possession and shoveled the ball to Jordan Poole with the shot clock running down. Poole hit a deep three to cut the Rockets’ lead by two and then proceeded to steal the ball on the very next possession, which led to a Steph Curry layup. The Rockets then threw fuel on the fire when they picked up an 8-second violation bringing the ball up the court, which allowed Steve Kerr to sub in Klay Thompson for the final seconds of the quarter. That sub paid off as Klay hit a three to put the Warriors up by three points. You can see that entire sequence below:
4th Q:
12:00 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Moody/D. Green/J. Green: 97-94, Warriors lead.
9:16 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Moody/D. Green/Looney: 102-99, Warriors lead.
8:30 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Thompson/D. Green/Looney: 103-99, Warriors lead.
7:51 — Poole/DiVincenzo/Thompson/Wiggins/Looney: 104-101, Warriors lead.
7:27 — Curry/DiVincenzo/Thompson/Wiggins/Looney: 104-103, Warriors lead.
5:42 — Curry/Thompson/Wiggins/D. Green/Looney: 110-108, Warriors lead.
1:19 — Curry/Poole/Thompson/Wiggins/D. Green: 120-115, Warriors lead.
The Warriors’ lineup that started the fourth quarter, Poole/DiVincenzo/Moody/D. Green/J. Green, was made possible by Steve Kerr subbing Draymond Green out of the game earlier than usual in the third quarter. That second unit didn’t take control of the game, it just averted disaster. Tonight, that’s all the Warriors needed. Steph Curry came back in at the 7:27 mark, shortly after this abomination of a call:
Because Draymond Green started the fourth quarter, he needed to come out at some point, so Steve Kerr subbed him out about a minute before Curry came back into the game. As a result, Andrew Wiggins spent about three minutes playing the four until Green came back into the game at the 5:42 mark. That the Warriors managed to get more than four minutes of their starting lineup during closing time was something of a miracle — Kevon Looney had picked up his fifth foul on the aforementioned foul call, Draymond Green picked up his fourth foul on a call that should generously have been a no-call and was challenged to no avail for some reason, and then Green picked up another foul contesting a fast break. Looney did eventually foul out with a little more than a minute left in the game
What was of course, far more notable about closing time was not foul trouble, but the Warriors’ shotmaking. Right before Draymond Green subbed back into the game, the Warriors had just taken back a lead on a pull-up three, Steph Curry’s 26th points of the night. That three was the first of five between Curry and Klay Thompson in the final six minutes of the game. Thompson hit three hugely consequential threes, including one where he seemed to dip and hesitate before firing, and Curry all but an end to the game with this hilarious, arcing three with 34 seconds left that put the Warriors up by 9 points.
Steph shot the Houston crowd with his first “night, night” of the season after firing that shot, a celebration that felt premature for a split second when Kevin Porter Jr. hit a three and was fouled by Andrew Wiggins and missed his free throw, which very nearly caromed into the Rockets’ hands. But when Draymond Green corralled that rebound, the game did effectively end and the Warriors escaped with their first road win of the season.
POOLE WATCH BABY!!!
In 24 minutes, Jordan Poole had a fairly muted game. Poole only took two shots from deep, one of which was hugely important in the final minute of the third quarter, and finished the night with just 8 shot attempts. During the Rockets’ second-quarter run, Poole missed all three of his shots, and in the fourth quarter, he missed his only two shot attempts on mid-range jumpers. The shot attempts themselves were actually fine. Poole snaked into pull-up jumpers in a familiar way, but what felt weird was that these shots didn’t feel like they were a part of any greater rhythm in his offensive performance specifically because he had been so passive earlier in the game.
I still can’t figure out why Poole is being so passive on offense, but on a night like tonight, I would have liked him to take more control of the Warriors’ second unit rather than letting the team fall into a back-and-forth with a young, athletic Rockets team. One thing I did like about Poole’s performance was that he was active on defense and picked up a few deflections as he trailed shots.
Jordan Poole’s stats tonight:
10 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 block on 3/8 FG, 1/2 3P, and 3/3 FT’sin 24:33 minutes.