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The Golden State Warriors fell short and failed miserably in their first chance to close out the Houston Rockets in Game 5 of this first-round playoff series on Wednesday night. The Rockets came out and played with a bunch of energy while the Warriors fell flat. Houston raced out to a 27-point halftime lead before the Warriors' reserves made the game a little closer in a 131-116 loss.
The Golden State starters just didn't have their A-game in this one, and that led to this pretty uncompetitive loss. Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler both were held scoreless in the first quarter before getting on the board before halftime. In fact, the Warriors' starting five finished the game with just 40 points, which was the fewest in Warriors playoff history.
Curry finished the game with 13 points, a series-low for the sharpshooter, and he was the only Warriors starter that scored in double figures in this one. Butler finished with eight as did Brandin Podziemski while Draymond Green scored seven and Buddy Hield scored four.
Obviously, the Warriors will need a much better effort in Game 6 in order to close out a Rockets squad that will be playing with plenty of desperation like it did tonight. Houston has shown that when it gets into this mode, it can be very tough to score on and to beat, so the Warriors will have to be locked in from the opening tip.
Still, Curry and company will come into Game 6 with plenty of confidence after beating the Rockets in both Games 3 and 4 in San Francisco, the former of those wins coming without Jimmy Butler. With their championship experience, the Warriors will be the rightful favorites to close it out on Friday night.
If the Rockets are going to force a Game 7 back in Houston, they can't bank on another bad night from Golden State. Well, not this bad at least. Ime Udoka and company forced the Dubs to play poorly with their elite and energetic defense, but the Warriors will make some more shots in Game 6 and make it tougher on the Rockets to get a win.
