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SAN FRANCISCO — Entering Thursday evening’s game, both forward Draymond Green and head coach Steve Kerr expressed skepticism over the long-term viability of the Rockets’ small-ball starting lineup.
But, in the Warriors’ 135-105 loss to the Rockets at Chase Center, the one-game results led to a convincing win for a team pushing the boundaries of a small-ball movement the Warriors helped usher forward.
By starting P.J. Tucker at center and trading 7-footer Clint Capela earlier this month, the Rockets’ starting unit features players all 6-foot-7 or shorter.
“I think there’s always going to be a place for big guys,” Kerr said before the game.
“Every game, that can kind of wear on you,” Green said earlier this week. “I’ll be interested to see how that plays out down the stretch. But they’ve been successful at it so far.”
“Yeah we don’t need to go big,” Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni said. “Our team is better this way and if we are going to dive in, then you might as well go all the way.”
With five players on the perimeter on offense, Houston made 25-of-49 shots from 3-point range and took a decisive 35-point lead in the third quarter. Golden State, meanwhile, went just 7-for-33 from beyond the arc.
And though the Warriors (12-44) played most of the game with a true center — either Marquese Chriss or Kevon Looney — they outrebounded the Rockets by only seven.
Forward Andrew Wiggins led the Warriors with 22 points on 10-for-17 shooting (2-for-4 from 3-point range), while rookie forward Eric Paschall went for 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting and seven rebounds.
For the Rockets (35-20), James Harden (29 points and 10 assists) stepped back into 3-pointers and baited the Warriors’ defenders into fouling, and Russell Westbrook (21 points, 10 assists and five rebounds) used the space provided by not having a center clogging the paint to attack the basket.
Meanwhile, the Warriors had a difficult time finding open shots against the Rockets’ switching defensive scheme, and turned the ball over 23 times. Though they scored 60 points in the paint, it was not nearly enough to overcome the 3-point discrepancy.
That math advantage is the central tenet of the Rockets’ strategy: three is worth more than two. The Rockets are willing to give up size and points in the paint if it means having one more player on the floor who can threaten from beyond the arc.
Of course, this was also the belief in the Warriors’ lineups that featured Green at center, and Stephen Curry (out, left hand surgery) and Klay Thompson (out, left knee surgery) spacing the floor, that helped establish their recent dynasty.
However, they’d only start with a small-ball lineup in moments of desperation in a postseason setting, as they famously did in Game 4 of the 2015 NBA Finals — a decision that changed the course of the series, and possibly the next half-decade of the league.
But going dramatically small for a playoff series is different than making it a standard starting lineup during the regular season. Maybe Green is right, and the Rockets won’t be able to sustain their impressive effort of the last few weeks.
On Thursday, though, it was enough to hand the Warriors a blowout loss during a rebuilding season, as the Rockets ramp up to another playoff run.
A few more thoughts…
1. In his fourth game since joining the Warriors, Andrew Wiggins was again assigned to defend the opponents’ top scorer and started the game guarding Harden.
In his last three games, Wiggins was used to guard the Lakers’ LeBron James, the Heat’s Jimmy Butler and the Suns’ Devin Booker. In each of those instances, Kerr has come away encouraged by Wiggins’ potential on that end.
“He defends his position well,” Kerr said. “He uses his length. The good thing for us is we can plug him and put him on any of the perimeter players that we want. And that’s a very valuable dynamic to have in a player.”
Before acquiring Wiggins, the Warriors did not have his combination of length and athleticism. Yes, they had Glenn Robinson III — previously in the plug-and-defend role — but he gives up three inches of wingspan to Wiggins, and is not the all-world athlete Wiggins is, either.
That allows Wiggins, at his best, to make momentum-shifting plays on defense, something he was fairly criticized for not doing enough of in Minnesota.
Andrew Wiggins blocks the 3 and scores on the other end
Future all-defensive player pic.twitter.com/jBJDEyhfkt
— Chris Montano (@gswchris) February 21, 2020
It also allows him to make plays even when he gets beat. One such example was in the second quarter, when he contested a Harden 3-pointer. Initially caught on a Tucker screen most players would die on, Wiggins somehow manages to come off the screen and fly toward Harden to contest the shot without fouling.
To fully appreciate it, look at where he is when Harden begins his gather.
And then look at where he is when Harden shoots.
That rare athleticism allows him to make plays only few players can make, and it’s something the Warriors recognized when they traded for him. Kerr, for one, is bullish on the potential partnership with Klay Thompson on the perimeter next season.
“We have the duplicity with those two guys going into next year,” Kerr said. “That will be good for us because we can mix and match and neither guy will ever be overpowered physically.”
2. Juan Toscano-Anderson is the only Mexican player in the NBA, and the fourth ever to be in the league.
As the NBA attempts to create a greater foothold in the country (they recently announced that they will have a G League team in Mexico City next season), Toscano-Anderson could play an important role in bridging the gap between the soccer-crazed country and the NBA.
After finishing with 10 points on 5-for-8 shooting, six rebounds and four assists, he spoke about his pride in representing Mexico.
Juan Toscano-Anderson, the only Mexican player currently in the NBA, on the pride he feels in representing Mexico. Pretty cool. pic.twitter.com/Ito4uG2Xfq
— Wes Goldberg (@wcgoldberg) February 21, 2020
