The Golden State Warriors lost their first game to the Houston Rockets since February 2020 tonight, as the Rockets walked out with a 91-90 win at home against the Warriors in the NBA Cup quarterfinal. It was a bad night for Steve Kerr and the Warriors, who made a funny remark about playing on the Rockets’ special all-red NBA Cup floor as ‘descending into the depths of hell’ to the media before the game.
“It feels like I’m descending into the depths of hell.”
It’s a red court tonight for the semifinals between Warriors and Rockets. Steve Kerr told his coaches at shootaround: “It feels like I’m descending into the depths of hell.” pic.twitter.com/q4eMHXjdaR
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) December 12, 2024
It might as well have been a night in hell for the Warriors, who were locked in a defensive battle against the Rockets that they failed to win.
Jonathan Kuminga scored 20 points (8-20 FG) with seven rebounds while Stephen Curry had 19 points (8-17 FG). Draymond Green had eight points (4-9 FG), four assists, two steals, and one block to accompany Buddy Hield putting up 15 points (6-12 FG), two steals, and three blocks, with no other Warriors scoring double-digits.
Kerr overthought his rotation, playing 11 players against Udoka’s tight eight-man rotation. Golden State put nine different players on the court in the fourth quarter alone, which can cause lineup inconsistencies in close games like tonight. There’s a reason Playoff rotations usually comprise eight or nine guys, with the Rockets understanding that while Kerr continued tinkering during this game.
Substitutions in the fourth allowed the Rockets to exploit mismatches whenever certain players checked in or left the court, including a bench lineup that saw both Curry and Green on the bench while Alperen Sengun scored easy points by attacking Kevon Looney or Trayce Jackson-Davis.
The last game between the franchises also saw both teams score under 100 points, but the Warriors emerged winners with a 99-93 score in that clash. The franchises were closely matched in the race for the No. 10 seed towards the end of last season, but the Rockets failed to win a single matchup against the Warriors which created a gulf that was too big to overcome in the standings.
This win will give the young Rockets the confidence that they’ve returned to being one of the top teams in the NBA and can be genuine contenders in the West. The Warriors started the season red-hot but have considerably cooled off, going 3-7 in their last 10 games.
The Rockets have returned to the No. 2 seed in the West with this win while the Warriors lose steam in the race for a top-four seed, sitting No. 5 with a 14-10 record, 1.5 games being the No. 4 seed Dallas Mavericks.
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