SAN FRANCISCO – If there are wagons in the Bay Area, the Warriors must find as many as possible by Saturday afternoon.
For the sake of the Warriors’ NBA postseason aspirations – beginning Saturday, with Game 3 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series against the robust and rugged Houston Rockets – circling those wagons is the way to protect Stephen Curry and lighten the load on a compromised Jimmy Butler III.
Butler is listed as questionable with a pelvis and deep gluteal muscle contusion, but coach Steve Kerr is “relatively optimistic” that he will play. Even if he does, it’s unreasonable to expect he will approach the 45 minutes he averaged in his last two full games.
“Everybody’s got to be ready, depending on what happens, whether, you know, Jimmy plays or not,” Kerr said Friday.
This was after the team went through video review and a light practice that did not include Butler, but surely highlighted the harsh physicality the Rockets delivered in tying the series 1-1 with their Game 2 victory Wednesday in Houston.
“They played with more urgency,” Kerr said. “They played a playoff game (and) we played a regular-season game. That was the main issue for us. Our lack of physicality defensively was really apparent.”
Rookie center Quinten Post described it as “frustrating” to watch video of Houston’s clutching and pushing and holding, with Curry subjected to it as a matter of routine.
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“You see it out there, like, especially with 30 (Curry),” Post told NBC Sports Bay Area. “I think they tell their staff before the game. They probably talked about it. They probably made a rule, like, if you’re guarding him, or he’s close to you, you touch him, you grab him, you pull him.”
Curry finished with a team-high 20 points in Game 2 but clearly bore the full weight of Golden State’s offense once Butler left late in the first quarter. Curry managed 15 of those points, on 4-of-11 shooting from the field, including 3-of-6 from distance over the final three quarters. In 18 second-half minutes, he managed nine points on 2-of-7 shooting (1-of-4) from deep, but was 4-of-4 from the line.
With Amen Thompson leading the way, the Rockets in Game 2 made it clear they were willing to sacrifice attention toward other Warriors to devote more energy toward Curry. That likely won’t change – and certainly won’t if Butler is limited or unavailable.
“You have to try to counter it however you can,” Kerr said. “Whether it’s running a certain action or changing a tactic, whatever it is you’ve got to adjust to the way the game is called. What jumped out about the film from the other night was the way they were and just our lack of physicality. It was a typical response from a home team down 1-0.”
Regardless of Butler’s status, Curry can expect more of the same intensified coverage. Which means others will have to fill the void for the Warriors to prevail.
“Everybody’s going to step up and play a better role when (Butler) is not out there,” Brandin Podziemski said. “Obviously, it helps that we’re at home. With role players makes it easier for them. The crowd’s fighting with them. I think everybody’s going to step up and play better. It’s the first home playoff game for many of us.
“The intensity that they had coming out in Game 2, I think we’re going to have that same kind of fire coming out for Game 3.
By splitting the two games in Houston, the Warriors seized home-court advantage. If the best-of-seven series goes six or seven games, three of them would be at Chase.
But if Golden State loses Game 3, home-court advantage moves back to the Rockets, who will have a 2-1 series lead.
Which is why the Warriors would need to play with the same force and attitude the Rockets carried in Game 2. Much of the video review on Friday was dedicated to promoting the need for more intensity.
And, also, the need for everyone to contribute. Butler’s availability will impact minutes for Jonathan Kuminga, who played 26 minutes in Game 2 – his first appearance since April 11 – simply because Butler was sidelined eight minutes into the game.
“A lot of guys came in and really performed well,” Kerr said. “Pat Spencer had a great, great game for us, and it’s great to see JK back out there finding his rhythm. We’ve got to just be ready for whatever we’re facing. And we believe we’ve got a lot of guys who can help us win the game.”
Wagons circled. Fight fire with fire. That seems to be the plan. It’s the entirely appropriate demeanor for a wounded team facing an opponent committed to confrontation.
