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“We want more defense, more physicality in the game” — fans have called for it as if the 1990s were the pinnacle of basketball, pundits have called for it, and even Steve Kerr has called for it.
Wednesday night’s NBA Cup quarterfinal between the Warriors and Rockets is what that looks like — two physical defenses and two offenses that struggle to create good looks in the face of it. Golden State looked like it would extend its 15-game win streak over Houston when up one in the final 15 seconds Stephen Curry got a clean look at a 3, but when that missed a loose ball led to the soft foul call that changed the game.
Jalen Green made two free throws with 3.5 seconds left, putting the Rockets up one, and when Jabari Smith Jr. blocked Brandin Podziemski’s 3-pointer with two seconds remaining, the game was decided.
Houston won 91-90 in a defensive, grinding, at times slog of a game and advanced to Las Vegas and the NBA Cup semi-finals against another strong defensive team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
After the game, Steve Kerr called the loose ball foul on Jonathan Kuminga “unconscionable” and said an elementary school referee would not have made that call, a game-deciding call 80 feet from the basket.
Referee crew chief Bill Kennedy — who made the call on the court — said to a pool reporter, “The defender makes contact with the neck and shoulder area, warranting a personal foul to be called.”
Kerr doesn’t have to like the officiating, but that’s not the only reason, or even the main reason, the Warriors lost — his team didn’t score a point in the final three minutes and had a couple of 24-second shot clock violations. Golden State led 90-84 with 1:17 left in the game but gave up a Fred VanVleet 3-pointer and an Alperen Sengun layup to get it within a point, the Warriors never answered and it set up Green’s game-winning free throws.
The Warriors also dug themselves a hole in the first half they had to climb out of, although credit for a lot of that should go to the swarming Rockets defense that is second in the league. The Warriors turned the ball 13 times in the first half, which became 16 Rockets points.
Golden State turned the game in the third quarter by taking care of the ball — two turnovers and zero points off them in the third quarter — plus the Warriors started to attack Sengun on defense (Ime Udoka had hit the big man on Gary Payton II but in the second half Kerr began to have Payton set picks for Curry). While the game was close, the Warriors led the entire fourth quarter, until the fateful play and call at the end.
Sengun led the Rockets with 26 points and 11 rebounds, while Smith added 15 points and Jeff Green a dozen. The Rockets are not a good shooting team and it showed as they hit just 22.2% of their 3-point attempts.
The Warriors have shooters but were not dramatically better, shooting 12-of-38 from 3 (31.6%). Kuminga led the Warriors with 20 points but needed 20 shot attempts to get there, while Stephen Curry had 19 points and five assists. Draymond Green had eight points on 4-of-9 shooting plus five turnovers.
The Warriors looked old and like a team that has to make moves if they still want to contend while Curry is an elite player.
Houston looked like a young team starting to figure things out — the NBA Cup is a stepping stone for this team, kind of a dress rehearsal for a playoff experience this roster has yet to experience. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win and a step in the right direction.
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