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Whatever Brandin Podziemski ate before Game 4 needs to become his before-game meal every game moving forward. Bouncing back after suffering from food poisoning earlier in the series, Podziemski was instrumental in the Golden State Warriors' critical 109-106 Game 4 victory over the Houston Rockets.
In a career game for a player early in their career, Podz scored 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting, draining six threes to secure an important 3-1 lead over the Rockets.
After the game, Steve Kerr gave Podziemski the highest praise possible for a player in only their second year in the NBA.
“Brandin is big time. A second-year player but plays like a 10th-year guy,” Kerr said. “He's just got so much poise and confidence, and he was obviously a key to everything.”
In a series where scoring has been hard to come by, Podz's offense kept the Warriors afloat, especially with the Houston defense tilted to stop Stephen Curry at all costs. In his post-game press conference, Podziemski talked about him and the team staying composed with all of the Rockets' ever-changing and complex defensive tactics.
“As the series has gone on, they've tried a bunch of different things with their defense,” Podziemski explained. “I think having high IQ players on our side– being able to recognize that kind of thing and make adjustments throughout the game, within the game– has been huge.”
But for Draymond Green, the heart and soul of the Warriors, he understood that Podziemski's big night came down to something beyond the X's and O's of a basketball game, as he stated in his post-game press conference.
“It's his heart,” Green said as he recalled Podziemski's origins, coming to the league from a smaller college in Santa Clara as the 19th pick of the 2023 draft. “I like to call it irrational confidence. He puts the work in, but he has irrational confidence. It's one of those things I actually wish I had. He just has the ultimate belief in himself and his abilities, and he went out there and showed it… Tonight, we needed it in a major way and he stepped up. He answered the call.”
The Podz Party?
With Brandin Podziemski's 26-point, five-rebound, five-assist Game 4, he became the youngest player in Warriors history to have a 25/5/5 playoff game, passing 2022 NBA Champion Jordan Poole.
And while Podz and Poole draw obvious comparisons, with their 3-point shooting, youthful energy on a championship-contending team, and last names starting with the letter P, that's where the similarities end.
In particular, Podziemski's two-way play and his ability to hound Houston's guards have been huge for the Warriors. While his 26 points in the box score will be the talk of the town, Podziemski's huge stop on the Rockets' Fred VanVleet was his play of the night.
With 2:22 left in the fourth quarter and VanVleet up to 22 points at that point, Podziemski ran the former NBA champion off the 3-point line, before blocking what would have been the lead-taking floater from behind. It's those kinds of hustle plays that get second-year players time on the floor, especially in big-time playoff games.
But make no mistake, Jordan Poole was an absolute necessity in Golden State's 2022 title run, and his heroics should not be forgotten. He was the Warriors' third-leading scorer during the 2022 playoffs, averaging 17.0 points on 50.8% shooting.
He was so important in the Denver Nuggets series that the Warriors had the luxury of bringing Wardell Stephen Curry II off the bench to ease him back from injury. Not to mention his underrated offensive performance in the Memphis Grizzlies series; his 31 points and 27 points in Game 1 and Game 3 wins were huge in a series similar to this current one.
And to top it all off, he had not one but two half-court buzzer-beaters in the NBA Finals to swing the momentum from the Boston Celtics… who went on and won a championship two years later. Regardless, the Podz-Poole comparison is certainly the last thing on the Warriors' minds, especially with three chances to close out the Houston Rockets and get to the second round of the NBA Playoffs.
A series dictating Game 5 inbound
The Warriors head back to Houston in what will be a kitchen sink game for the Rockets. It's important to remember that Game 4 was decided by literal inches. If Alperen Sengün got a little more oomph on the ball, the Warriors could have been staring at a 2-2 series and only one home game left.
Houston's not going to go away lightly. They found some untapped success in their ultra-big Jabari Smith, Steven Adams, and Sengün lineup. This three-big combination forced the Warriors to experiment with a very untested Trayce Jackson-Davis/Quintin Post duo, to little success.
However, with this lineup, one of the saving graces for the Dubs has been Steven Adams' poor free-throw shooting, who is 43.7% from there this season. In the fourth quarter, the Warriors forced Ime Udoka to take Adams off the floor with the classic Hack-a-Shaq strategy until the two-minute mark, when all off-ball fouls are awarded with free throws.
But no matter what Houston tries to do next game, just know Green is glad to have Podziemski on the Warriors. In the same press conference, he explained the importance of a player like Podz.
“He's one of those guys that you want on your side. People try to pick on him, they do this, they do that, he [does not] back down. He's smart as hell– on both ends of the floor,” Green explained before smiling. “Great draft pick by Mike [Dunleavy].”
