The Golden State Warriors played their fifth preseason game tonight against the Houston Rockets in Hidalgo, TX, and head coach Steve Kerr decided to give the #SplashBrothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, the day off, utilizing this game as an opportunity to get a closer look at the viability of some of the training camp signees such as Aaron Craft, Justin Holiday, and James Michael McAdoo to make the final roster of fifteen players.
It was also a chance for further development of Nemanja Nedovic and Ognjen Kuzmic, who are first-round draftees of the Warriors and likely to make the team because of the committed guaranteed salaries and the fact that both players are not coveted enough to be traded to other teams.
FIRST QUARTER
Brandon Rush, who had back spasms in the loss against the Miami Heat on Friday night, was reported as probable for the game.
For the Rockets, James Harden was announced as out by the Houston radio crew, but then ended up starting, making Harden an easy target for #DubNation’s jokes on Twitter about not actually playing, especially defense.
Harrison Barnes seemed to back that up, as he started out with an alley-oop dunk courtesy of Andre Iguodala as well as a couple buckets posting up Harden down low. He even “stone-walled” Harden on defense.
Andrew Bogut was stellar, as usual, as he executed passes that most point guards would be envious of, stopped Rockets at the rim, and even hit a couple jumpers.
Nemanja Nedovic was impressive as well, hitting three-pointers, delivering assists, and, for the most part, converting field goals inside the paint.
Iguodala, however, didn’t look on-point. His two threes, while posing as one of the #SplashBrothers at shooting guard, were bricks and he had two turnovers early.
Craft and Kuzmic checked in towards the end of the first frame and held their own, although that wouldn’t last long.
At the end of the first quarter, the Warriors were up, 27-24, and held the Rockets to just 38.1% shooting. David Lee who had the first bucket of the game from the pinch post, went by the scorer’s table and told San Francisco Chronicle reporter Rusty Simmons that he was done for the night.
SECOND QUARTER
In the second quarter, Kerr would use a variety of combinations in various rotations involving twelve players. Here are some highlights:
- Rush came in in the second quarter and immediately delivered a jump pass to a cutting Draymond Green.
- However, Rush didn’t look particularly impressive at the rim, losing his balance on a baseline drive and getting snuffed by Howard on another try.
- Kuzmic looked like a junior varsity player against the varsity Howard. The stark contrast in physique led to some harsh criticism by the Rockets’ announcers as well as Twitter-verse.
- Marreese Speights wasn’t shy when he got in, even as the “Stretch Five”, continually looking for his jumper, which was successful on two of three tries.
- Green’s shooting was not good: 1-for-7 including an ugly airball fade-away from the baseline.
- Nedovic continued to find teammates for buckets. He even had a great jump-stop fake on Howard at the rim, but blew the layup as Howard flew by.
- When Holiday makes a three-pointer, it’s a thing of beauty because he jumps so high. He made one, but missed one.
At the end of the half, it was the Rockets 49, Warriors 42. Barnes led Golden State with 9. Trevor Ariza had 11 for the Rockets and plenty of steals with his long arms.
THIRD QUARTER
In the third, Nedovic and Kuzmic connected a couple of early buckets with the big man assisting the point guard, not the other way around. “Nedo” racked up his 4th and 5th assists to Kuzmic and an Iguodala slam, but the Warriors still found themselves down by double-digits as they could not stop the Rockets.
One move Nedovic made even prompted Twitter-verse to say, “Don’t reach, Youngblood!”
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In a promising development, Barnes hit one of his favorite Michael Jordan-emulating dribble-and-pops to the corner of the paint. He would end the quarter 5-for-7 with 13 points, as Nedovic led the Warriors with an impressive 16 points and 5 assists.
Alas, the Warriors just could not stop Harden, as the Rockets small forward collected 8 of his 15 points in the quarter and the Warriors fell behind further, 75-62.
FOURTH QUARTER
The fourth quarter was the last chance for the training camp invitees to show their mettle. And aside from the porous defense, boy did they ever.
Mitchell Watt finally got his first meaningful minutes and contributed immediately, utilizing the Triangle philosophy on the elbow in a two-man game with Holiday that we’ve barely seen executed in the NBA since Jordan’s Chicago Bulls era.
Watt handed the ball off to Holiday in the corner, set the screen on Holiday’s man, and Holiday rose high and knocked down the long three-pointer. It was a thing of beauty, especially the NBA-level athleticism of Holiday.
They did that Triangle thing again moments later as Holiday got another deep three-pointer from the right elbow.
Holiday added a catch-pivot-shoot swish and Watt and McAdoo combined for four slam dunks in a span of just a few minutes, but the Warriors could not stop the Rockets on the other end of the floor, and found themselves down by 9, despite all of the thunderous offensive scoring, approaching three minutes to play.
Craft and Holiday even simultaneously dove for a loose ball to force a shot-clock violation, showing how badly they wanted that last roster spot on the Warriors.
The Warriors had their moments to put a little doubt in the Rockets’ minds, but Jason Kapono turned the ball over after rebounding his own open miss and the Warriors were still down by 7 with 1:30 remaining, too much of a hill to overcome.
It was an impressive showing for the entire team, although the Warriors lost the game, and convincingly. Holiday ended with 18 points on 7-for-13 from the field, 4-for-8 from downtown. Nedovic ended with that 16-point, 5-assist line. Craft added 7 rebounds.
With the #SplashBrothers returning to action for the next game on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers (again) at Oracle Arena, this may have been the last opportunity for Kerr to get an extensive look at the training camp invitees vying for that last spot.
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