SAN FRANCISCO – Playing without Jimmy Butler because of a left pelvic contusion he sustained in Game 2, Steph Curry and the Warriors willed their way to an exhilarating 104-93 Game 3 victory Saturday night at Chase Center against the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
History is on the Warriors’ side, too. The winner of a Game 3 when a series is tied one win apiece in a best-of-seven series has gone on to win 74.2 percent of the time.
Curry had to remember what his life was like before Butler’s arrival, but the four-time NBA champion put on his hero’s cape and gave the home crowd a show to remember. He started slow, but once his flame began to grow, Curry couldn’t be stopped. Curry scored a game-high 36 points on 12-of-23 shooting, went 5 of 13 from three and added seven rebounds and nine assists.
While the four starters alongside Curry combined to score 26 points, Buddy Hield gave Golden State 29 huge minutes off the bench. Hield was a plus-14 with 17 points, going 5 of 11 behind the 3-point line.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr made a change to his starting lineup knowing he would be without Butler. In came Jonathan Kuminga, as well as rookie center Quinten Post, which pushed Moses Moody to the bench. Kuminga scored seven points in seven minutes and only grabbed one rebound. Post in 27 minutes scored just two points but came down with a career-high 12 rebounds.
Houston’s length continued to be a problem for Golden State in a multitude of ways. But the Warriors were able to overcome the issue through other means, with more second-chance points, points in the paint and fastbreak points than the Rockets. They also had a lowly 10 turnovers, a winning number for the Warriors.
Here are three takeaways from the Warriors’ Game 3 win.
Let Curry Cook
To state the obvious, the Rockets are going to do everything in their power to get the ball out of Curry’s hands. He played into their strategy, passing too much to start the game, and his passes were sketchy at best. The Warriors for the third straight game were held to 18 points in the first quarter, with Curry only having two points on four shots.
About halfway through the second quarter, Curry began taking things into his own hands. Driving into the lane for finger rolls. Burying buckets from downtown. Even hitting a mid-range jumper. Curry only made one 3-pointer through two quarters but went into halftime with 15 points, while the rest of the starting five had 11.
Then the real takeover happened in the third quarter with Curry scoring 12 of the Warriors’ 23 points, giving fans some sizzling highlights. Curry’s scoring clinic brought him to 27 points going into the fourth quarter. He continued to get little help from the rest of the starting five.
Curry in the fourth quarter nailed two more threes and scored nine more points to put a cherry on top of this Warriors win.
Kuminga Gets His Chance
The last few weeks have been quite the ride for Kuminga. After being a DNP-CD (Did Not Play, Coach’s Decision) in the final game of the regular season, Kuminga again wasn’t in Kerr’s game plan in the Warriors’ lone NBA play-in tournament game, a win against the Memphis Grizzlies. The same goes for Golden State’s Game 1 win against the Rockets.
And he wasn’t expected to play in Game 2 until Butler went out to injury late in the first quarter. Now with Butler sidelined, Kuminga was back in the starting lineup for Game 3. Kuminga was very successful playing the Rockets in the regular season when he averaged 21.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game against them. That same success didn’t follow him early Saturday night.
Kuminga in the first quarter only played five minutes, which was the fewest among the starting five. He had a turnover on a pass out of Draymond Green’s reach and attempted a wild left-handed shot attempt through traffic that had no chance. Kuminga played just nine minutes in the first half and scored three points.
He added four points in the third quarter but didn’t see any action in the fourth, showing where Kerr’s trust is with him. If Butler can play Monday in Game 4, Kuminga might be fully out of the rotation again. If he is given another big opportunity, he’ll have to do more with it.
Buddy Buckets
It was easy to forget about Hield through the first two games of the series. The veteran shooting guard who made 200 threes for a seventh straight season only made one 3-pointer on five attempts coming into Saturday night for a total of seven points. On a night when the Warriors were searching for scoring help, Hield showed up.
Hield at halftime was up to 11 points and had made three 3-pointers after missing his first two attempts. In the final two minutes of the first half, he and Curry went on a 9-0 run to cut the Rockets’ lead to three points. Hield in that span hit a 26-foot three and raced ahead of the defense to catch a long pass from Curry for an easy layup.
The outside has questioned Kerr’s faith in Hield throughout his highs and lows in an up-and-down season. The Warriors’ Game 3 win was a shining example of Hield’s value. Their offense much of the night was a hope and a prayer of Curry and Hield making threes.
They combined to go 10 of 24 on threes. The rest of the Warriors went 4 of 21. A big game from Hield was required, and he provided the juice to take a two-games-to-one series lead.
