SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors, when they needed them most, couldn’t get shots to fall to save their lives. Both metaphorically and potentially in the series.
Despite falling behind to the Houston Rockets early and staying behind for nearly the entire game, Golden State trailed by just two points (86-84) to begin the fourth quarter. A series win was well within reach before the Warriors went on to miss 14 of their next 15 field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter preceding an eventual 115-107 lifeless Game 6 loss on Friday at Chase Center.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was asked postgame what happened offensively in the fourth after Golden State’s impressive 36 points in the third and credited Houston’s pesky defensive scheme.
“They were in a zone,” Kerr said. “They played [Steven] Adams quite a bit. He’s at the center of that zone, kind of a 2-1-2. I thought we got some good looks against the zone. But then once they pulled away by 10 or 12 [points], it was easier for them to run us off the line.
“We had a lot of openings, but they were using their length to run us off the 3-point line, knowing we had to make threes to get back in it. I thought they did a good job of kind of running us off the line and keeping us from knocking down threes to get us back in the game.”
Opposing teams don’t often have much success in a zone defense when Warriors superstar Steph Curry, the greatest shooter in NBA history who is capable of igniting an offense in an instant with his 3-point shooting alone, is on the floor.
There is risk to deploying the defensive scheme, but the Rockets executed it almost to perfection in the fourth quarter.
Golden State Warriors
Find the latest Golden State Warriors news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
“The communication is probably even better in our zone than in man-to-man,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said postgame. “Obviously, we’re dominant with our size. We put Jabari [Smith Jr.] in the three in the bigger lineup there. Don’t have a lot of cross-matches or mismatches, and have gone to it and saw that it worked.”
One of the big reasons for Houston’s success in zone on Friday night was veteran big man Steven Adams, who played a series-high 31 minutes in Game 6 and scored 17 points with five rebounds and three blocks. Adams has been a pest for the Warriors all series, especially on the glass, but it was the size of Houston’s two-big lineup with him and Alperen Şengün at times that made the Rockets’ zone defense so effective.
“The thing with the zone is that there are windows to attack, weak spots, obviously,” Adams explained postgame. “We just managed to scramble and get to those spots like pretty good, you know what I mean. So the window for error, we keep it very tight.
“We do a good job rebounding and keeping them to one shot, you know what I mean. That’s a key weakness with the zone. Because usually you’re out of place to rebound. It’s good. It’s a weird zone … It’s just like a bizarre one but it works.”
Warriors forward Draymond Green, whose stellar defense played a pivotal role in Golden State initially jumping out to a 3-1 series lead, gave Adams his flowers.
“He’s having a great impact,” Green said of Adams. “He’s doing a great job on the offensive glass. He’s doing a great job defensively.
“I just wish we could get a three-second call. You stand in the paint, whole possession, it’s hard to box out. He’s strong as hell, so… Being outweighed by, what, 40, 50 pounds, six inches, standing in the paint, it’s tough to box him out, so…”
Houston, now with back-to-back decisive victories to even the series, might have the Warriors figured out, both schematically and personnel-wise.
Golden State will need more than just whistles to counteract the Rockets’ stout defense, which only will feed off the energy from the home crowd in Game 7 on Sunday at Toyota Center.
