FIRST TAKE | Stephen A. Smith predicts to Warriors vs Rockets Game 6: Steph Curry close it at home?

FIRST TAKE | Stephen A. Smith predicts to Warriors vs Rockets Game 6: Steph Curry close it at home?

The Warriors and the Rockets preparing for a crucial game six tonight. The chippiness in this series has picked up as Golden State looks to close out Houston. All right, Jay Will. Who’ll be the biggest factor in the Warriors closing out the Rockets tonight? I think it has to be Jimmy Butler, y’all. I mean, this is why you got Jimmy Butler in this moment. This is why Mike Dunley made that move to bring him on board. And in a time where that right thumb for Steph Curry is a real thing, and I’ve often joked around with people that I think Emmy Udoka is the coaching version of Draymond Green as a basketball player, right? And I don’t think that’s dirty. I think that’s basketball strategy on shots and you can hit people after the shot or when Steph gets low with the ball, raking down on the ball. I wouldn’t be surprised if multiple players hard fouls in the first quarter to kind of set a tone for the physicality of the way the game is going to be called, which is also another very important factor. But the reason why I say Jimmy Butler is look, Steph has moments. But I called him the greatest technician teammate in basketball because he’s willing to live in the trenches. He is the Batman of this team if Steph is the Superman. and the ability to win that war in the trenches against these dogs of Houston will ultimately determine if the Warriors can win this game six tonight. And my thing is Jimmy Butler has to be next level. He’s picked his spots here and there, but if he can tactically pick the moments to be great, the Warriors will have a high probability of winning the game. But they better win it tonight, Stephen A. They better win it tonight. It goes back to Houston. That ain’t going to be good. I I agree with you there. I definitely think they need to win tonight. And I think they will need they will win tonight. And I’m going to tell you why. Jay, Jaylen Green, I agree with your answer to this question about it being Jimmy Butler, but I’m going to speak about Jaylen Green. This kid is young, got athleticism off the charts, had a big game in game two. It struck me. It didn’t It didn’t escape me that the one game where he exploded, where he’s dropped 38 points, was the game Jimmy Butler got hurt early and was out the rest of the game. Other than that, Jaylen Green and the other four games has scored seven, 9, 8, and 11 points. A total of 35 points on 31% shooting. That is unacceptable. Jaylen Green, that is unacceptable. So we can see Dylan Brooks, Fred Van Vleet has been great. Um, you know, Thompson is going to show up, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. You know, Eay Udok is going to have them boys ready, feisty, ready to fight, scratch, and claw. They’re not going to go down easy. But Jimmy Butler, who’s averaging about 10 points and better than 50% shooting in the fourth quarter of the games that he has played in, if he’s there tonight, um I think he’s going to be a big big factor, the biggest factor because I think Steph is going to do what Steph does. But I think Jimmy’s going to have to help out making sure he’s effective when it really really counts. And say, I will say I am starting to find myself rooting for Dylan Brooks. He broke up a fight the other night. Yes, he did. I’m like, what the hell is going on? This man is locked in right now. Oh, he’s locked in. He’s locked in. He’s showing his veteran leadership, his toughness. He doesn’t back down from anybody or whatever. He has a role of playing Ema Udoka system. If Jaylen Green is doing what he’s supposed to do, Houston might be up 3-2 in this series instead of down 3-2. Game six, 9 Eastern on ESPN. We can’t wait for that. By that, game six for the Rockets and Warriors in San Francisco on Friday with Danny Green who’s back with us once again. So, Danny, what’ you think about Steve Kerr’s decision once that game got out of hand? take his key guys out. It was a smart one. I mean, the guys already banged up. Joe, Jimmy’s got a bad back. Steph’s got a messed up thumb. It’s better off giving them some chance to rest and get focused for game six because you don’t want them exert that much energy, not be able to bounce back and have the legs and freshness to be able to close out a game. Obviously, Houston’s up big. They didn’t look like they were any chance of playing better or getting back into the game. So, pull your starters, pull your guys, let them get fresh, let them get some rest, and, you know, get back ready for game six. Either of those injuries, Curry or Butler, concern you for game six? Actually, Jimmy’s back concerns me more than than Steph’s thumb. You know, Steph’s thumb looked kind of swollen now. People seeing the picture, it looks nasty. But as a shooter, you don’t need the thumb as much. You can play through. He’s been playing through for a while. You need your your index and middle finger to shoot mostly. It affects his catching and dribbling. But Jimmy’s back, he’s more important cuz, you know, Steph, even if he doesn’t shoot well, he draws a lot of attention. If Jimmy’s back is not good, it’s he has to battle with Stephen Adams in the post. He has to make free throws. He gives the team another dynamic. If he doesn’t play well and able to make those plays defensively and offensively, it’s a totally different game, you know, for them. Meanwhile, for Houston, they want Jaylen Green to be aggressive, but Alper and Shenon’s been fantastic. Fred Van Vleet hit some big shots. So, if you’re Ema Udoka, how do you attack Golden State offensively? You just go with the hot hand. And that’s the story of Houston all year, right? You know, they don’t have a go-to guy. Some nights is Green, some nights Seun, some nights is Freddy Vanfleet or Aman Thompson, right? And as of late, it’s been Seun and Fred Vanfleet. Even still, Jaylen Green has to be aggressive. He has to find a way at least give double digit points and make an impact on the game to give them a chance to win. Unfortunately, they’ve lost some games and they’re in a hole. So, they got to every possession matters and they got to do they have to be perfect to win these games. Let’s make free throws, not turn the ball over and find ways to rebound and get second opportunities. All right. And who wins and why? I’m going to give it to Golden State. Um, unfortunately, they have the experience. I just don’t see them losing two games in a row. Right. Jimmy and Steph’s going to be fresh. They played a really bad game. They laid an egg. I don’t see them doing that twice. And going into Golden State is not an easy building to to win in. So, I’m going to give it to Golden State. All right. Either way, it’s going to be fun. Yeah. Yeah. I can’t wait to watch it. All right, man. Great to have you here. Thank you. Thanks for having here tonight in Golden State. Steve Kerr and the Warriors made the decision to quasi punt on game five the other night in Houston. Now, Steve Curry has done something interesting in this series. There’s only one Warrior averaging over 30 minutes a game, and that is Steph Curry. He has protected his older roster, specifically Jimmy Butler, as he’s coming off of an injury. But I’m going to tell you something. Having been around the NBA and having watched a handful of teams blow 3-1 leads, the easiest way to start a slide on losing a 3-1 lead is giving away game five, which is what the Warriors did here. I will point out, Greeny, in 2022 when the Warriors won the title, they lost by 40 in game five in Memphis when they’re up 3-1, punting in a similar fashion. Then they came back one game six and won the title, which is what they’re expecting to do. But man, that was an interesting strategy decision by Kerr and the Warriors. Yeah, it can it can work and it can go in the opposite direction. And I think you said it kindly, quasi punting. He pulled his starters with six minutes to go in the third quarter. So I mean that is punting and that is you know calling for a fair catch. So Tim Tim Lega, you’ve been around all these series and all the rest of that. What is your sense on where we are going into game six tonight with the Warriors? I feel like if they don’t get this one at home, then the series goes completely in the other direction. What’s your sense of it tonight going into game six? Yeah, I agree. Look, I do think that, you know, when you look at all these first round matchups and matchups in general in the postseason, I think Golden State would be a team that you would say is capable of winning in game seven on the road. Uh you’re not going to dismiss a team with Steph Curry on at Jimmy Butler. Having said that, yeah, this is their opportunity. what happened the other night set this up. And the key for me is going to be what the Warriors do to create more opportunities and space for Steph Curry because Houston, for the most part this entire season, has done a great job on him. You remember that game late in the year, they held him to three points on one of 10 shooting. They did it to him again the other night. Now, that game got out of hand, so we’re not exactly sure, you know, what Steph Curry would have had in store in the second half of that game, but he’s dealing with the thumb. He’s also dealing with a team as committed as any I have ever seen against Steph Curry playing on the top side and negotiating and communicating these switches perfectly so that he ends up with an elite physical long defender on him that’s denying him his running routes, denying him his catches. I want to see what Golden State does to take some of the pressure off of him and create some space. Wendy, let me just get a quick injury update. Like Wendy, we’ve all seen the thumb. It looks terrible. I mean, there’s really no other way. Steph Curry’s thumb looks really bad. This picture went super viral the other day. Do we have a sense? And Steve Kerr talked about the rules and everything that will change. Do we have a sense of just how badly hurt his thumb is? Well, I can tell you he’s been dealing with it for weeks. He’s had it wrapped for many games, and it doesn’t seem to be affecting his production. He’s still shooting the ball great. I honestly think the Warriors are still more worried about Jimmy Butler’s glute injury having bigger effect on the game. But as if Dylan Brooks and the Rockets weren’t trying to hit Steph Curry on the hand every chance they got anyway, certainly seeing that photo, you’re only going to see it probably happen more in this game tonight. You know, M Udoka, the head coach for the Houston Rockets, feels to me like the Draymond Green version of a coach, right? with strategies that he he he employs, right? And and these are strategies. These are not dirty plays. We’ve heard this saying all the time in basketball that your hand is part of the ball. And legs make mention of them top locking them get on the high side. Look for active hands tonight. Steph plays and dances with the ball. His hand is very vulnerable. Now, Jimmy Butler’s another guy that can go off, but if you can take Steph out of the equation, it increases your probability of winning this game massively. Is that dirty play or is that strategic play? strategy. That’s strategy cuz you know like like and by the way it’s an obvious injury but it’s strategy tells me I got to use it against you. You’re too great a shooter for me to just lay off. It’s the playoffs. So hitting his hand feels like oh that’s dirty what they’re doing. But and Steve Ker talked about this the other day and I I hear him saying at some point this has to be illegal. But like you can’t call for that to be illegal or like if a guy’s injured you can’t No no no. The rule that he’s talking about what are you talking about? There is a rule in the NBA now that once the shooter releases the shot, his hand is fair game. It’s not called a foul. And so what Steve said the other day is that he said all 30 coaches would want that rule out of the game because guys are whacking away. Tim Leggler, you would know better than anybody the second you release the Nice. How many [Music] [Music] Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. [Music] [Music] video. Oh man, I feel All over there. foreign. Nice shoot. How is [Music] this in it? Thank you. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech.

FIRST TAKE | Steph Curry, Butler or Chase Center is X-factor Warriors beat Rockets game 6 – Stephen A. Smith