Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka made a blunt admission on how they lost Game 3 to the Golden State Warriors.
They knew exactly what the Warriors would do.
“It’s something we’ve seen all year — teams go after Jalen [Green],” Udoka told reporters after their 104-93 loss on Saturday at Chase Center. “Obviously, he had a big game last game, so we expected that coming in.”
What did them in, according to Udoka, is that they failed to cash in on their open opportunities.
“When they do put two bodies on the ball, we didn’t do a good enough job making them pay tonight, as you saw, we were 19-for-48 in the paint. That’s not good enough — point blank layups or floaters or making the right read from there,” Udoka said.
The Rockets were held to 39.5% shooting overall and 11 3-pointers.
On the other hand, the Warriors capitalized on the Rockets’ blitzing of Stephen Curry.
“You’ve got to convert those [open shots],” Udoka said. “They did with [Gary] Payton and [Draymond] Green slipping out and we didn’t.
Payton scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half, including 11 in the fourth quarter, where the Warriors outscored the Rockets 35-13.
Jimmy Butler-less Warriors ‘Still Dangerous’
The smaller Warriors outscored the bigger Rockets 44-38 inside the paint. And they did it without their best inside player — Jimmy Butler — who sat out with a deep glute muscle contusion he sustained in Game 2.
“We know they’re still dangerous without Butler, so that doesn’t change anything,” Udoka said.
Without Butler, the Warriors zeroed in on Curry on defense. They were successful for only one quarter. They limited Curry to only two points in the first quarter. Then they established a 13-point lead early in the second quarter when Curry was on the bench.
It did not last long as Curry had 13 points in the final 7:26 of the first half to cut the Rockets’ lead down to 49-46.
“It’s a gamble on both sides,” Udoka said. “Both teams are blitzing each other. Like I said, their guys made a few more plays than ours tonight.”
Buddy Hield also stepped up for the Warriors, adding 17 points off the bench.
Payton and Hield led the Warriors’ bench that outscored their Rockets counterparts, 42-28.
Steph Curry Outduels Jalen Green
After Jalen Green outdueled Curry in Game 2, the Warriors star returned the favor in Game 3.
Curry finished with a near triple-double (36 points, nine assists and seven rebounds) while Green was held to just nine points on 4-of-11 shooting after exploding for a playoff career-high 38 in Game 2.
“Our rotations were just pretty poor,” Green said on why Curry got loose for 34 in the final three quarters.
Green said he didn’t see anything new on the Warriors’ defense on him.
“Nothing different — loading up [on me],” Green said of the Warriors’ defense. “I feel like I was making the right reads. We just got to hit shots. We didn’t score well. The defense was good enough. We held them to 95 until the last three minutes of the game. So, we just have to score the ball. Once we mix that with our defense, it’s our game.”
