HOUSTON — Maybe the largest strategic question mark about this Warriors team is whether it has enough secondary shot creation around Steph Curry to generate offense at the tensest moments when its movement action slows. Saturday night in Houston, the Rockets were the first team to really test that perceived weakness. After the Warriors blasted off to a 31-point first-half lead, Ime Udoka went small in the second half and had his rangy group of young wings switch everything, pressure full court and force the Warriors to create and score against them off the dribble.
Advertisement The strategy flipped the game. Houston outscored the Warriors by 28 points in the second half and even led briefly. The Warriors appeared panicked and struggled to even cross half court several times.
A game that felt way out of reach went to overtime. The Warriors ultimately won 127-121, but the shaky path to victory was informative. The Warriors were without Curry because of a sprained left ankle for the third straight game, putting some of the ballhandling spotlight on Brandin Podziemski .
In a couple of key fourth-quarter moments, Podziemski had his dribble swiped by Amen Thompson and Tari Eason , part of a 13-0 Rockets run to open the quarter. But Podziemski responded, strengthening his dribble and delivering three of the night’s biggest buckets in crunchtime. Podziemski said he spent a portion of his summer training to become a better isolation scorer against bigger defenders, believing he h.
