When the Warriors won Game 4 of their first-round playoff matchup with the Houston Rockets, they celebrated on the court as if the series was over.
Bear hugs accompanied a palpable sense of relief.
Even in the moment, it all felt like a bit much.
Then again, up 3-1 in a best-of-seven series, the result was inevitable, right?
Well, not quite.
What goes up must come down, and the Warriors fell way down on Wednesday.
So now Chase Center will host another game on Friday — Game 6 — all because Game 5 wasn’t much of a contest.
The Rockets — backs against the wall, pride on the line, insert other sports trope here — didn’t just beat the Warriors in Houston, they obliterated them.
They made the Warriors look old, tired and injured because, well, the Warriors are old, tired and injured.
It wasn’t until the Warriors pulled their top players early in the second half that the game became interesting. What should have been an easy coast to the finish for the Rockets became a bit hairy against the young, feisty and ready-to-fight end-of-the-bench Santa Cruz Warriors.
But guys like Pat Spencer were only in the game because Houston couldn’t stop scoring and the Warriors couldn’t buy a bucket for the first three quarters. Any time Golden State threatened to make it interesting, the Rockets regained control and stretched their already prodigious lead.
The Warriors no-showed at an elimination game on the road.
And you can’t say it wasn’t predictable.
Yes, it seems as if the Warriors entered Game 5 with the lowest of expectations.
They got what they deserved.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said that he “didn’t have [his team] team ready to play.”
That’s boilerplate coach-speak, folks.
But rarely do you hear such a suggestion before the game.
We heard it on Wednesday.
NBA coaches spend time with the national announcing crews before playoff games, usually in a back room following their pre-game press conference with the non-paying media.
Those conversations rarely amount to much but usually include a nugget or two the broadcasters can use regarding rotations or defensive matchups. It’s fodder for the awkward moments between free throws.
But Warriors coach Steve Kerr told TNT’s Spero Dedes and Candace Parker something downright fascinating before Game 5.
Per Dedes, who shared this less than four minutes into the game:
“He said, ‘Look, very little rest, cross-country flights, I’ve got an older team — we’ll see how this thing goes early; see how long we can potentially chase it.’”
Potentially chase it?
The Warriors sure were in it to win it, huh?
I can appreciate being cognizant of the moment, and I won’t go as far as to say the Warriors punted Game 5, but Kerr didn’t exactly echo Michael Jordan’s “I’m only packing one suit” line from the 1993 NBA Finals, did he?
Perhaps the Warriors would have lost if they had been out there looking to close the series in earnest on Wednesday. It might have been the Rockets’ night no matter what.
But it’s not as if the issues raised by Kerr — older team, cross-country flight, very little rest — abate before Game 6 or 7.
This every-other-day stretch was always the main threat to the Warriors. They took care of business amid the long layoffs between the first four games of the season, but now that the games are coming fast and furious, the problems that come with such a schedule only compound.
Yes, Draymond Green only played 18 minutes on Wednesday, with Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler adding a paltry 23 and 25, but this game could have a tail. If not for Friday’s Game 6, then for the rest of the Warriors’ playoff run — however long that might be.
Curry’s right thumb is so swollen water-logged, Butler’s “running” around like he has a busted butt, because he does (four year of journalism school came in handy for that observation), and Green was getting too old for the playoffs in 2022.
In short, it’s in the Warriors’ best interest to keep the series as short as possible. You don’t use a classic car for long-distance hauling.
Yet the Warriors almost willingly added more distance than needed on Wednesday.
And how presumptuous of this team, even with all their experience, to, at the very least, take ‘er easy Wednesday.
These Warriors haven’t exactly been role models for taking care of business. There’s a reason they were in the play-in tournament, after all.
And what’s to say that Friday will be this team’s day?
The Warriors believe in themselves — that much we know is true.
“We’re fine. Our confidence isn’t gonna waver any,” Butler said. “We’re going to start out better, we’re going to play better overall game, because we know how good of a team we are as a unit, and we know how good our players are as individuals… we’ll be fine.”
Perhaps.
Perhaps not.
These Warriors have been many things this year, but trustworthy is not one of them.
And now they’re a team on the brink of disaster. Another flight to Houston would be a death knell to any grandiose ideas about titles that have floated around the Warriors’ locker room since the Butler acquisition.
Yes, it’s all on the line in Game 6.
We’re about to find out if the Warriors — a team that should know better — celebrated too early.