Early in the first quarter during a foul shot, Draymond Green snuck into the Rockets’ makeshift huddle under the basket, nudging his way into their meeting of the minds.
There was no need for him to eavesdrop, though. The Warriors already have all the answers they need.
Golden State took a 3-1 series lead over Houston with a 109-106 victory at Chase Center on Monday. The Warriors have won three games in three distinct ways: Game 1 in a defensive slugfest, Game 3 when Steph Curry went nuclear, and Game 4 with poise — down the stretch, thanks to their role players and as Houston tried to muddy up the game with extracurriculars.
The Rockets have thrown the kitchen sink at the Warriors through four games. Zone defenses. Aggressive traps. Trash-talking on the court and at the podium. Hard fouls. Single-big, double-big, and even triple-big lineups.
The Warriors have handled it all, and there’s no reason they won’t again in any of the next three games as the Rockets face elimination. Golden State has solved Houston, even if Steve Kerr hates that word and won’t admit it.
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“No, we don’t have any answers,” Kerr said with a smile.
In Kerr’s mind, a solution one game can backfire the next. A series is a collection of adjustments and counters. It’s a chess match with a simultaneous game of Bananagrams off to the side.
No matter the board, though, the Warriors are in control. They’re better coached and more poised. They have more high-end star talent and exponentially more championship DNA.
The game-sealing play on Monday showed it all in 10 seconds.
Out of a timeout, the Rockets cleared out the middle of the floor for Alperen Sengun. The only problem was they had him isolated against Draymond Green.
Green, who played the last eight minutes of the game with five fouls, held his ground and forced Sengun to miss a flailing hook shot in the lane.
“Why him? I don’t know why you’d go after the Defensive Player of the Year,” said Brandin Podziemski, who scored 26 points in the win.
Butler, the six-time All-Star playing with a bruised glute, corralled the rebound and iced the game with a pair of foul shots.
Kerr said if it was the regular season, Butler would probably miss another week or two due to his injury. But this is the playoffs, and that’s Playoff Jimmy.
Butler started slow as he worked his way into the game and tested his body to see how much it could handle. He facilitated on offense instead of hunting his shot like he did in Game 1, when he dropped 25 points.
Then Dillon Brooks poked the bear.
Late in the first half, Butler and Brooks exchanged words, with Butler’s trash talk inspiring Brooks to faux cackle. The two wings sparred with the ball in the air, and Butler’s hands briefly wrapped around Brooks’ neck. After a light shove from Butler, Brooks ended up on the ground.
There was no call. Just some fire lit under Butler.
Brooks scored zero points after the miniature skirmish. Butler poured in 23, including 14 in the fourth.
“Get me on record, I don’t like Dillon Brooks,” Butler said postgame. “I don’t think anybody’s trying to be friends with anybody on either team, that’s for sure.”
Earlier in the game, Brooks was in the middle of a dust-up with Steph Curry that resulted in three technical fouls. Brooks has called Green a dirty player during the course of the series. Jalen Green has said that all Draymond Green can do is talk.
Houston has tried to start a war of words, and the Warriors have almost universally demurred. Almost like they see right through the Rockets.
“We’ve seen it all,” Curry said. “There’s moments where it can distract you if you let it. But you kind of have to check yourself. Nobody’s going to be soft and let people walk all over you, you’ve got to protect yourself, protect the team. Some of those tactics are done to take you out of your game. So if you allow it to, you kind of play right into their hands.”
On the court, the Rockets’ biggest adjustment in Game 4 was to play Steven Adams more (he logged a season-high 26 minutes) and scale back Jalen Green’s playing time (he’s been ineffective in three of the four games).
The Warriors, meanwhile, inserted Buddy Hield into the starting lineup in Moses Moody’s spot. The Rockets liked guarding Moody with Sengun, but they couldn’t try that same strategy with a lethal shooter in Hield. As Hield helped set the defensive tone early, the Warriors started the game on a 16-4 run. That same unit opened the second half on an 18-1 run.
“As the series has gone on, they’ve tried a bunch of different things with their defense,” Podziemski said. “And so, I think having high-IQ players on our side being able to recognize that kind of thing and make adjustments throughout the game has been huge.”
If the Rockets couldn’t win the night that foul trouble limited Green to 31 minutes and Curry shot 2-for-8 from 3-point range for 17 points, how are they going to win three consecutive elimination games?
It sure seems like the Warriors have reached the point in the series in which they know they have their opponent backed into a corner, cut and wobbly. But declaring that would be bulletin-board material — and that’s something a less experienced team might do.
“Yes, there is a point: when you win four games,” Butler said. “We’ve got one more to get. You can’t let your guard down at all. It’s been a dogfight damn near every game. So it could go either way, but I’m glad that the way it’s going is for the Warriors.”
Checkmate only comes with a fourth win in a series. And the Warriors are trying to get to 16 victories this postseason. That includes closeout games, starting with Game 5 in Houston on Wednesday.
“They’re always the hardest one,” Kerr said. “Every team that’s in the playoffs, especially a team like Houston — a two-seed, 52 wins, big-time team. They’ve got a lot of pride, great coach, they’re going to be ready. We’ve got a long way to go. We know Game 5 will be the toughest one yet.”