Houston Rockets DOMINATE Golden State Warriors In 4th Quarter To Force Game 7

Houston Rockets DOMINATE Golden State Warriors In 4th Quarter To Force Game 7

And we’re off to Houston for a game seven. Are the Golden State Warriors in trouble? Starting to appear that way. Let’s debate on today’s show. You are Locked On Warriors. Stop trying to turn the page on us so fast. Your daily Golden State Warriors podcast. We got four championships. Part of the Locked On podcast network. Every team has a chance to steps on the team. Your team every day. Yo, what’s the good word everyone? Welcome to the Lockdown Warriors, part of the Lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. A lot of ways you can check out the show, YouTube, wherever you get your audio podcast. To the Rockets fans that are hopping on the feed, congratulations. You have sent this into a game seven. 115 107 the final score. The fourth quarter was 2923 in favor of the Houston Rockets, but that does not tell the story of the fourth quarter. uh an embarrassing effort that we’ll get into in just a moment. Again, subscribe to the show. We appreciate you very much for joining us. My name is Charlie Walter, the host of this show. Um formerly a 957 The game. That’s the flagship radio station for the Golden State Warriors in the Bay Area. Also cover the team for CBS News Bay Area. Call letters KPIX. This episode brought to you by Monarch Money. Take control your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. your co-host today, Matt Koulski. Uh, he does not look happy, folks. For those of you listening on the audio podcast, he put the kids to sleep and had to watch Basura in the fourth quarter as the Rockets have forced an elimination game. Now the other way and all momentum has gone to the Houston Rockets who have really discovered based on the analytics. It’s the Warriors who are supposed to be so analytically driven. Yet they can’t see that size is an issue. They say size doesn’t matter, Chuck. They’ve told me that for years. It doesn’t matter. Size matters in this series. Um proof is in the pudding with a man who got 31 minutes in the game today. that Steven Adams just completely changed this game. He was a plus 15. We’ll get into all the reasons the Golden State Warriors lost. Uh why this series has completely flipped momentum wise in favor of Houston. Could we maybe get a game seven step like we got in Sacramento when the Warriors lost game six in 2023 at Chase and then went back to Sacramento and and just destroyed an upstart Kings team. Could we get that from Steph Curry? Uh, we’ll break all these things down on the show today, but damn it, man. I’m going to have nightmares of zones, zone defense. There’s been no zone busting from the Warriors, who once again uh well, somehow they put up 107 points in this game, but the offense was just stagnant in the fourth quarter. They had one field goal with four minutes to go in the fourth before Steph Curry hit the bench and they called off the troops. What the hell happened, man? Oof. That’s a big question. Um, aside from the Rockets being really good and the Warriors not being able to hit a shot and not being able to grab a rebound, timely rebounds. That’s what it was cuz the differential wasn’t that big. But every single time you did Hack and Adams, it worked to a te because he missed them both. And guess who’s there to grab it? Shinon. And guess who’s down on the block trying to box him out? Buddy healed. Why? Why is he on the block? He can’t make a wideopen shot. Why is he in the game? Damn it. I mean, Buddy Healed 0 for four, all threes in 16 and a half minutes. Did have three rebounds. Good for him. Four fouls, including a brutal foul on a three-point shooter. Uh Gary Payton, 1945, so about 20 minutes. Uh two for five, five points, three rebounds, and I would say unimpressive, unnotworthy defense. Quinton Post 1748, two for six, looks completely lost out there. One rebound in 17 minutes and 48 seconds. I don’t know. Trace Jackson Davis is on the bench. Jonathan Kaminga is on the bench. Jonathan Kaminga’s average game against the Houston Rockets this season was, let’s see here, 21.7 rebounds in 29 minutes. Shot 15. I don’t I don’t care about Kaminga, Koulski. I don’t care about Kaminga. I care that Moody’s only getting 22 minutes when he’s starting to look like You should care about Kaminga. I’m sick enough, man. He’s not good. What does that mean? What did you hear what I just said, Chuck? Don’t be an idiot. 21 points, seven rebounds on 51% shooting, 42% from three against the Rockets in in f in four games this year. He’s not worth a look. I would give him a look. I agree. I agree with that. For offense where nobody can get a rebound, he averaged seven rebounds in less than 30 minutes a game against this team in the regular season. He’s not worth a look. Like, come on. And you’re right. You’re right. It’s also, why are you starting Buddy Healed? What are you doing? Literally, what are you doing? He brought Buddy Healed back in the game in the fourth quarter on an over fouling people like an idiot. What are we doing? I’d rather have Pat Spencer in the game than Buddy Healed in that I would have rather had honestly I would have rather had that squad we saw come off the bench with Knox and Key and just some size with Curry and Butler on the floor. Draymond was a non-factor. I mean, defensively he had his moments, but offensively, I mean, he was a black hole out there tonight. A black hole. And to the people who say, “Oh, well, it’s too late to put Kaminga out there now when you’ve had him on the bench for a month.” All right. What was that for then? Why was he on the bench when you knew the Rockets were a likely opponent and you knew he was playing well against them all year long? You You literally ruined any chance you had of having this guy help you. and he is the third most talented player on your team. He was also the third best player on your team for portions of this season. Not in an imaginary fantasy land, not in the past years, this season. I like I know it’s annoying to hear me upset about this because it’s been all year and obviously it’s not going to change, but it cannot be overstated how completely full of words I can’t say it is to suggest that there’s not even worth looking to see if this guy might help in a series where the other team is more athletic than you, killing you on the boards, and just frankly embarrassing you from an effort perspective. I I like I again I I probably would have thrown him in there just to get a different look, but I I don’t think he would have changed it. I honestly think truly that that going with like Spencer and Key and and some of those guys that just will give a full effort because I don’t even think Kaminga w effort is, you know, his biggest thing. Like I would have gone with legit Energizer players along with Jimmy who had it for most of the night and Curry. Literally, I I would have gone with three dudes off the bench to not only prove a point, the problem with that playoff level intensity. Here’s the problem with that. In the fourth quarter, when the Warriors got murdered, who was the problem, right? Everyone. No, it was Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry. A combined 1 for 12. Why? Maybe because they’re in their late 30s and they both went over 40 minutes tonight. How do you play them less than 40 minutes? you have to either play more people or go to better people earlier. And I like I do not understand. It’s so frustrating to watch a guy who has been one of the best coaches in NBA history just not do things that are obvious potential solutions. Like he has potential solutions that he is not attempting. And I cannot understand that. It is. It cutting off his nose despite his face feels like a very favorable review of what Steve Kerr is doing in this series. I just don’t get it. And you can say Kaminga has no brain. You can say he’s not a winning player, but guess what? They’re not winning and they’re playing guys with no brain. So that does not explain why he can’t get a look. Buddy Heield is brainless out there. Quinton Post is lost. He is a rookie and he is getting defensive corrections from his teammates on the floor in the middle of the game. Plus, his shots not falling. He had one rebound tonight. He’s 7 feet tall. He played almost 20 minutes and he had one rebound. And you don’t want to take a look at something else. Come on. I mean, Grace Jackson Davis, Ge Santos. I mean, at this point, if you want to make the Kaminga argument, go for it. I mean, the offense wasn’t really an issue for large portions of this game. Warriors had 27 in the second. They scored 36 in the third. Uh, really could not stop Houston. Uh, for large portions of this game, whether it was second chance points, whether it was loose balls leading to Jabari Smith threes, how many times do we see that? Whether it was offensive rebounds from Steven Adams who had three big ones in the game, 29 from Fred Van Vleet, uh, six of nine from three, nine of nine from the free throw line. He’s completely changed the series. I mean, he was so bad in the first couple of games. He’s been so good. That’s changed things. Uh Thompson had his moments in the first half, didn’t notice him as much in the second. Didn’t notice any Dylan Brooks because the Rockets decided to sit Brooks after he picked up his fourth foul. They just went bigger, you know, leaving Shinon and and leaving Steven Adams in the game at the same time. And it it just completely affected the Warriors. They had a lineup with Pods and Payton and Buddy Heield and Jimmy and Curry at times in the game and that’s just not going to cut it, man. I mean, go with some Santos minutes. Go with some Trace Jackson Davis. Look, Steve Kers pushed a lot of right buttons this year. Like, there was a point in the season where he pushed a Lindy Waters button for a few games and it worked. Like, he changed a Pelicans game early on. He pushed a Quinton Post button when Trace Jackson Davis wasn’t playing good and that seemed to work. he pushed a a Payton button when he was out of the rotation. Like he’s mixed things up and it seemingly worked today. Uh just went with something that wasn’t working the entire game. And you’re right, the fact that he went back to Buddy Heel after the inefficiencies that he had early and and quite frankly, Buddy at times this season has had wide open threes that can make an impact in a game and he never hits them. Man, I would love to get the statistic on Buddy Healed wide open threes to cut into a lead that are just bricked. I don’t understand it being as good a shooter as he is at moments, but he was not great. Payton was not great. But Jimky wasn’t great. Uh Moody, like we said, had his moments. Jimmy Butler was awesome for stretches of this game. Uh nearly a triple double with 279 and eight. Steph Curry did what he could, but I mean they were throwing the house at Curry. They were making it. They they had such a tall wall with 611 6-9 on him or 611 and and Jaylen Green 65 long arms on him to the point where he couldn’t do anything. And even if he got it out of the double and got it to the high post in Quinton post, he wasn’t making the right play or the wideopen shooter couldn’t knock down a bucket. And that is your difference in the game. Warriors shoot at 36. Forget that. They shoot at 30% from deep, 41% from the floor. They lose the rebounding battle. They turn it over 17 times in the game. 16 I believe it was. Um so just overall 21 points off those. I mean they got killed on their turnovers because they’re bad turnovers. And again when I look at a fourth quarter where Steph Curry is one for seven, Jimmy Butler is 0 for five and the entire team is 1 for12 from three. That’s a tired basketball team jacking threes in the fourth quarter of a a second straight potential closeout game. And and by the way, this is another reason why you shouldn’t give up in the third quarter of game five because let’s not go back to game. Now you’re headed to game. No, but this is all the same stuff. It’s bad coaching. And it is weird to say that with Steve Kerr, who has undoubtedly been a good coach over the balance of his career, it has been bad coaching in this series. Full stop. Bad coaching. And like yes, the the there are nights when you can coach badly and Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler will bail you out, but you cannot count on that. Especially if you’re going to play them 42 minutes against the team that’s going to run them to death. You could see they Steph and Jimmy don’t have 42 minutes against this team in them. They do not have it. They’re not like it’s not possible. And you’re refusing to do things that could mitigate that. Just refusing to do it with no explanation and no apparent logic. All right. Can we do an exercise together, Kolski? Breathe in. I am very frustrated because you’re right. I put the kids to bed. I could have spent the night watching a film with my wife and instead I watched that pile of garbage. Breathe out. Here’s the good news, man. We still got another game. It’s tied up 33 there. There still is another game. Silver lining. Season’s not done yet, unfortunately. You got to go to Houston. They have all the momentum. Um they didn’t even need anything from Jaylen Green today and still were able to win this game. Um Houston is a problem right now and the Warriors are going to have to uh settle it. The good news, I guess, is the Warriors have not lost three straight games in the Jimmy Butler era, I don’t believe. But streaks are meant to be broken. Uh let’s talk about the end of this game, how the Rockets were able to get it done. Turning points and more. That’s coming up on Locked on Warriors. Today’s episode’s brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever check your bank account and wonder where did all my money go? Between dining out, online shopping, and entertainment, it’s easy to lose track. And that is where Monarch Money comes in. It’s your personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Modern Money, it’s not just a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. You stop managing your money and you start building your wealth. When you use Monarch, you’ll realize surprising insights on how much money you spend in certain aspects of your life. Delivery. Oh my goodness, $700 last month. Maybe I should hit up the Safeway. You can also manage money with your partner smoother than ever, sharing your personal accounts, setting goals, and staying on the same page without the stress. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com code locked on NBA for half off your first year. Kolski, welcome back. Let’s get back to the show. All right, we mentioned the good news. There is another game. So, we will take a step back and we will try to pull out some good from today’s game. Unfortunately, uh there was not a ton of them whatsoever. I mentioned the Hackin Adams strategy that they went with late in the third, late in the fourth, and the the times that Shenon was able to get the rebound both times. One time he tipped it in, the other time he just grabbed it and laid it in. There’s four easy points right there off offensive rebounds. There were at least six more points from Jabari Smith. Uh that’s 10 right there from just hustle plays that the Warriors did not have in a closeout game on their home floor. You could point to coaching. You can point to missing shots. We could point to a lot of things, but that’s why I’m saying like throw in Pat Spencer who will, you know, put his head on the line to to make a play. I I don’t know. Do something. But these guys did not have it tonight, man. Yeah. You know, it’s just very ridiculous to suggest that, you know, throw in Pat Spencer when he’s got better play is the answer. Yeah. throwing to play, you know, like God bless Pat Spencer, but even Kevin, you need an energy tonight though, man. You needed an energy. That’s what they needed. And whether Kaminga could have brought that energy or not, who knows? But he hasn’t brought it since his ankle injury. He hasn’t. I disagree, but that’s beside the point. First of all, I think it would be fair to say that everyone should be embarrassed that they needed an energy boost tonight. Mhm. There’s no way that should have happened. And I’ve seen some back and forth about Moses Moody in the chat. To me, he was the only guy tonight who looked like he realized what was on the line. Jimmy Butler at a couple of points. But in terms of, you know, besides Jimmy and Steph, the only guy that looked like he was ready for game six and a game you really ought to win if you want to close this series out. Not to mention, like, I mean, let’s not kid ourselves. What is this team going to do against a well-rested Timberwolves team in round two now that they have to play a game seven and probably get one day of rest before it starts? Like they’re they’ve put themselves in an impossible position. Hope Draymond Nightmare put uh so much real estate and go Bear’s head that he just falters. But an Anthony Edwards on a different level right now. He is cocky as hell and he is backing it up. He’s the opposite of of Dylan Brooks. Although Brooks has had some good games this series, not tonight really. But uh yeah, I mean you play Minnesota, that’s tough. But first things first, we got to worry about the right. They’re good, man. They’re they’re tough. I don’t think they are good. I think they’re good. They’re tough. They’re a really tough team. That means they’re good, dude. The team the other team from Houston, Kelvin Samson’s Cougars, they’re tough. They just went to the national championship. Like toughness is basketball, man. Toughness can toughness can take you to the national championship in college. There’s not another team like every heard of Ben Wallace. Chuck, what are we doing? Too long ago. Is that what this team is? Who’s Chanty Bilips? Fred Van Vleet is Chanty Bilips now. Who’s Rasheed Wallace? Alpron Sangon is Rasheed Wallace. That team had Hall of Famers, man. They don’t have Jason Maxio. Come on now. This team is is it is good. Of course, it’s good. It was the two seed. It’s a playoff team. It’s tough as nails, but it is not a team that they can only beat you if you let them beat you with intensity and effort. That’s the bottom line. Yes, Fred Van Vleet was good tonight, but if the Warriors play well, they beat this team that like we talked about it, we saw it. And I just I I cannot understand from the players perspective. I cannot understand how you don’t show up with the appropriate intensity for this game. In the second half, Steve Kerr had to call a timeout one minute in. You came into the second half losing. Yeah. Two points. Fine. You were losing in a game six close out at home and you needed your coach to call a timeout after one minute because you had no intensity, no focus to start the third quarter. That’s embarrassing. That should never happen. And it’s on the players. It’s also on Steve Kerr because he’s got to be responsible for motivating these guys. And two games in a row he failed. Not to mention the rotations. Even if we say, you know, he did what he could, the roster’s broken. Fine. It wasn’t for the last 30 games of the regular season, but fine. Let’s say that’s the case. Don’t you take any responsibility for having a team, a veteran team that should know better, that shows up less than prepared in two straight closeout games, that there there’s just really no excuse for it. No. Um, here’s where the game changed, man. End of the third, Curry baited Tari Een into that foul on the three. Curry uh hits the first two, misses the third, which I mean it didn’t really play a role in the game, but I guess that was the ominous sign of what was to come over the next 12 minutes and 1 second. Uh, huge momentum shifter. Uh, started in the fourth quarter when seconds in, Van Fleet gets fouled on the three, knocks it down. uh hits the three, four-point [Music] game. I I mean, I don’t even know where to go with this, man. Aside from the fact that the Rockets outplayed you once again, and I just disagree with everything you’re saying with the fact that the Rockets aren’t that good. I mean, I go up and down the roster. It’s relative, but they I mean, they got they got switchable wings. They got a great big in Shenon. uh when Van Fleet’s knocking down shots. Like I always wondered why the hell did Houston sign Van Fleet to this big contract for a team that they’re ahead of schedule, right? They weren’t supposed to be the two seed in the West this year. They were supposed to be a trendy pick. I I felt like them and the Spurs were on on kind of the same wavelength to a degree and clearly one team was significantly better than the other. But um can I ask you other than Hold on, hold on. I just got to say I now know why they signed Van Fleet to that three-year deal that made no sense. It’s because they knew that in the playoffs they were going to see the Warriors and they needed a Warrior Killer and that’s what Fred has become because he was awesome, man. He was so good. Breeze, too. Yes, Fred Van Vleet was really good tonight. Nothing not going to take anything away from Fred Van Vleet. Other than the Mavericks, who would you pick the Rockets to beat that’s in the Western Conference playoffs? Um, I mean, they’ve beaten just about everyone this entire season. Who beat Who would you pick them to beat in the playoffs of the other one through seven seats? I’m literally the king of mush, Kolski. Everything I say is wrong. So, but I mean, but would you pick would do you think if I said no one then everyone would beat them? But but that like that’s not the exercise I’m sincerely asking you. Like did you think the Wolves were going to beat the Lakers? I mean, there’s a lot of parody in the league this year. I have no idea. We got to see it in a seven game series. I thought the Warriors were going to beat them in six. They’re not going to beat them in six. It’s going to take seven. So, you think you Okay. Do I think No, I I think at the end of the day that you run into the same you run into the same issue with the Rockets that they ran into in the close games with the Warriors where they just don’t have that closer. They’re giving the ball to Shenon Iso late in the game. But uh if anybody if anybody who watched the league this year ranked the Western Conference playoff teams by chances of winning a title at the playoffs at the beginning of the playoffs, the Rockets would have been in nobody’s top five. Nobody’s. So, yeah, the Rockets are a good team. They’re athletic. They’re on the come, right? Like, it’s going to get better and better for the Rockets from here. I’m not trying to diss the Rockets. The whole point is if you if you as the Warriors think our veteran experience, our toughness, our championship DNA is going to carry us, this is exactly the team you should run right over because they do not have any of those things in any meaningful way. God bless Stephen Adams and he’s been phenomenal in this series, but it’s not like what the Warriors have. And for my money, Houston would have been seventh out of eight teams if I was ranking championship odds at the beginning of the postseason. I obviously that’s shorting them because they should probably be ahead of the Warriors based on what we’ve seen so far. But the Thunder, the Wolves, the Lakers for that matter, the Nuggets, the Clippers, all I think pretty clearly tougher playoff matchups than the Houston Rockets. So, the fact that this is going this way says to me that the Warriors are nothing like what they thought they were. Like if you are who you thought you were and said you were and Draymond said it felt like a championship was coming and Jimmy Butler said don’t ever count us out. If you’re that team, you definitely win one of these last two games and you certainly don’t no show in one of them and and have less than a compelling effort in the second one. It’s just that that’s all I’m saying. It’s not about I’m not trying to diss the Rockets. The Rockets are are playing really well. They’re doing just about everything they can. But if the Warriors play their best game, as we have seen it, they ought to beat the Rockets. They just should. So, this to me is more about the Warriors failing than the Rockets playing well above the level that we imagined. One more chance to do so. We’ll break down if the Warriors can do it coming up on Locked on Dubs. Dude, Warriors put up uh final numbers were 23 in the fourth quarter, but I mean a lot of them were cheap baskets late. I I want to deduct the actual point total real time. This is great podcasting. Trace Jackson Davis had a dunk in the final minute. Pat Spencer had a two-point shot. The Warriors scored six points in the final minute. Uh eight points in the final uh 90 seconds. Uh, so we’ll go eight points in the final 90 seconds. So the first 11 minutes they scored 15 points in the fourth quarter. They had one field goal with four minutes remaining in the fourth. Um, I mean it was terrible. You’re going up and down. Butler hit some free throws. Draymond Green had a layup off a Butler assist. Butler showed up and I know that you said it was in spurts. There was a moment in the third and maybe even in the beginning of the fourth, but mainly in the third um and maybe even entering halftime as well where he was fouled on an and one or entering the third because Curry did it once. Now it was it was halftime where Butler had the and one that they originally called a three. It was a two. There were moments where he was hitting tough shots. he was off balance throwing things up and making and ones getting to the free throw line where you thought that this was going to be a playoff Jimmy and Curry the closer game one type stuff and the Warriors had it right where they wanted it entering the fourth down just a point and it did not turn out that way. What is the biggest thing? Is it the the rebounding, which there were some huge untimely missed defensive rebounds specifically at the line that were crucial, but I thought the biggest thing to me was just the turnovers, the sloppy play. Draymond had four of them that really stick out. Curry was hounded all night. He probably had I mean the official numbers on Curry in the game today turnover-wise, he had five. Um and and there’s a reason why he had five. I mean, the Rockets game plan is is very evident watching the game live. It’s, hey, Steph Curry’s not going to beat us. And granted, he did have 29 points on nine of 23 shooting, six of 16 from deep. But, uh, the the way they defended him, they said Curry’s not going for 45 and and taking this sleepy crowd into a frenzy because that’s another thing. A lot of gold shirts on the seats when the game started at 6:00, 6:30 Pacific time on a Friday or whatever. just a lot of anxiety. They mentioned it like 15 times on the broadcast that the energy wasn’t there from the players and that the anxiety and that you can hear a pen drop type feeling in the crowd was real and and now you go into game seven. I guess you let everything loose. We’ll see if Kerr makes some adjustments or if he goes with some of the same rotations that we saw today, man. But it um look, I didn’t feel bad after game five. It’s always been a how do you respond type of league and after that game six performance, it’s alarming. Houston’s confident. They’re playing their best basketball. They’re knocking down shots. They clearly have realized that throwing in Adams has given the Warriors fits. I mean, he’s playing 31 minutes and a in a playoff game. Insane. But, um, it’s been the Warriors Achilles heel to a certain degree. You saw it with Zubot and the Clippers. Like, how many times did they beat the Warriors? every time. Uh, size has thrown this team some issues. They did not have a um, and it’s not like Adam’s numbers are are that crazy in the game today. Actually, they were pretty crazy. He had 17 points. He had 17 points. Yeah. Oh my god. Well, he had nine of them from the free throw. God, I did not realize he had 17. Yeah. And and you know, by the way, the hack Adams strategy was a complete failure cuz he didn’t get and they kept well, he was nine for 16, which already makes it a partial failure. And then yeah, you gave up two rebounds. So when you add those four points, they got 13 points out of eight trips to the line. That’s not working. And he and Steve Kerk kept doing it even though it wasn’t working. Like I don’t know, man. I to me the biggest problem is very obvious and it is that the coach continues to do stuff that isn’t working and I don’t know what to do about that because he’s in charge. I don’t know what to say. Can you win game seven with the same bad strategy? Sure, Steph Curry’s that good. Jimmy Butler can do that sort of thing. But if you’re asking me what the problem is, what could be fixed, it’s strategy. future you’re playing little lineups that are getting killed. You’re hacka Adamsing when it’s not working. You’re not playing players who have been successful against this team this year. You are continuing to play Buddy Heield, who was bad on both sides of the floor most nights. You’re continuing to play Quinton Post, who is not shooting the ball since the series started. He’s been terrible. So, I don’t know, man. I like that to me is very obviously the biggest problem. start at least looking for other answers because what you’re doing is not working. And if if that is not something you’re willing to do, then I I don’t know. I I don’t I don’t know why you’re coaching an NBA team, frankly, which is a crazy I understand these are crazy things to say about Steve freaking Kerr, but if you’re just going to keep doing the same stuff that doesn’t work, literally, why are you here? It’s interesting because the entire season your notion was always in order for this team to take the next step to get where they want to be to potentially have a chance to be title contenders they got to maximize Jonathan Kaminga and that was a failure completely. Now whether they insert him two weeks ago against the Clippers and give him his normal 30 minutes and this thing changes I highly doubt it. You seem to think there’s a chance that happens. I highly doubt it. I just don’t think he’s that great to be honest with you. He could score the basketball. He He may have himself a long NBA career. Is he someone that’s gonna completely change a series? I don’t know. But I do agree with you in this sense that it’s like why not try? You’re getting your ass kicked. And with three minutes left in the game, when you at least have an opportunity to make some crazy run, you’re going with Santos o over Kamingo when you need some points. So, I mean, look, I don’t know what he’s going to do. in game seven. I don’t know how he’s going to switch things up or if he just goes with this same lineup that he’s had, but it’s clear that the Rockets are baiting him, saying, “Hey, we’re we’re playing Steven Adams 30 minutes.” I I wouldn’t be shocked if we didn’t see a ton of Dylan Brooks or if it’s not Dylan Brooks, it’s Tari E or Jabari Smith. Someone’s taking a seat for the Rockets that normally plays a ton to give Stephen Adams these minutes because the the plus minus is all you need to know. analytically driven Warriors and they can’t see what’s right in front of them. And that’s the analytics that with these big Shenon Adams on the floor at the same time, uh, Warriors can’t compete, man. They’re they’re they’re too much for him. And how about this from Jose, right? It’s hard to attack his own, man. Who attacks the rim on this team? Jimmy Butler, Steph Curry sometimes, and who? Who’s the third guy? He’s on the bench. So, like again, you’re right. Kaminga, it’s it’s not ridiculous to look at Jonathan Kaminga’s last two months and say he hasn’t been that great. You know, why would he help this series? And that’s a fine point to make if you ignore the fact that they’ve got almost everybody sucking out there. Like the again, Buddy Heield 0 for four, 16 minutes. Quinton Post two for six, one rebound in 1748. Gary Payton one for four from three, only three rebounds in 20 minutes. Like issue that I had, man, think of Moody in the first half when he pulled up on that. It wasn’t even transition. He was just bringing the ball up the floor. No one was going to guard him. And he stepped into a three and buried it confidently. There were a couple, I mean, he had three threes. There were multiple plays in the game where he tried to dunk on Steven Adams. At least he tried. Yeah. I mean, he tried to take down the house and tried to dunk over the sevenfooter and his reward was 22 minutes, which was right in line with Gary Payeyton and with, you know, at the end of the day, I that’s the biggest mistake to me is I would have played Moody 32. And it’s not like he was incredible by any means. I mean, in fact, if you’re looking at analytics, he was the worst on the team at a minus 16. So maybe that’s why I got fired from the YMCA team. No, it’s not though, Chuck. Because if we’re just going by plus minus, then Jimmy Butler was the second worst player on the team and Gary Payeyton, who Steve Kerr had to start for some reason, was tied for second worst. And then third worst was Steph. That’s not how it works. Plus minus doesn’t work that way. And and this whole concept of like, oh well, Kus plus minus is so bad. Like Steve Kerr’s not that stupid. I mean, I think he’s coaching this series terribly, but he’s not that stupid. So, none of these are sufficient explanations, and that’s the thing I keep saying. None of the explanations for the way this team has been coached for several months now are sufficient to explain the decisions that are being made. And I don’t know if there’s something else going on that we’ll find out about in some time in in you know a month or a year or whatever, but there is really no defense for the way this team is being coached. There just isn’t. I I I lowkey am thinking about free agency already and saw that Steven Adams is an unrestricted free. There is no free agency. That’s the great irony. They can’t do anything. And if Kaminga doesn’t agree to play ball with them, which right now, why would he? They can’t even get anything out of that spot. I think the most likely circumstance is Jonathan Kaminga signs with another team on a deal the Warriors don’t want to match. They lose him for nothing and they’re unable to sign anybody but you know, somebody at the level of Kyle Anderson again. Is a Kyle Anderson level player replacing Kaminga going to turn this team into a contender? Not for my Yes. Yes. Cerebral basketball player. Mount for my friend. Very quick. Um, this is locked on Warriors everyone. Game seven is on Sunday in Houston. It’s win or it’s Cancun. I’d love to go to Cancun personally, but I don’t think these guys would. They look tired though. They they look old. They they look like the Rockets size and youth and energy has affected them. However, again, I I’ll go back to the the history of things. The last time Warriors were in the playoffs, they faced this exact same thing in the opening round. The Kings kicked their ass on the home floor. Warriors were able to come back and get 50 from Curry. Remember who can stop Steph Curry. Hopefully, we never find out. It was that game. We’re going to need that type of magic and playoff Jimmy in full force in game seven because you saw today specifically in that zone, um Draymond had about 19 wide open threes in the fourth quarter and just refused to even look at the basket. And look, we we all would have been angry if he was throwing up bricks in the fourth quarter as well, but there are just not that many playmakers on this team to where it’s going to be tough, man. It’s going to be tough. There’s no Jordan Pool or Klay Thompson like there was in Sacramento a few years ago. This is locked on Warriors Koulski. Good stuff, man. We will uh you’ll be here on Sunday, right? Yeah. Might might be the last day of the season. I feel like I got to be here. Yeah, you may just resign. uh resign on the job after the uh I don’t know. I’m in restricted free agency. It depends what my offers are on the market, you know. All right, locked on Warriors. Everyone appreciate you for joining us. Leave a comment, like, subscribe, and we’ll see you Sunday. I’ll give you a chance to match, Chuck. You can match.

The Houston Rockets destroyed the Golden State Warriors in the fourth quarter, using size, chaotic defense, and timely offensive rebounds to sink the Dubs and send the series back to Houston. Chuck Walter and Matt Kolsky break down the game.

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