Warriors win Game 4 over Rockets as Butler comes up big late in return

HOUSTON – Through the fouls and scraps between bitter basketball enemies, the Warriors had an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead over the Houston Rockets in a contentious opening-round Western Conference playoff series on Monday night at Chase Center. 

The Warriors did just that.

And even nursing a sore lower back, Jimmy Butler came up clutch when it counted in Golden State’s 109-106 victory. He made a number of big shots, and even grabbed a huge rebound over Steven Adams with under 10 seconds left.

“I thought it was winning time,” Butler said. “Doing certain things that the team needed me to do to go out there and help win finally. I started moving a little bit better.”

The Warriors can close out the series in Game 5 in Houston on Wednesday (4:30 p.m., TNT).

Butler scored 14 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter after missing Game 3 with a pelvic contusion. The Warriors needed every point they could get in an incredibly physical matchup that saw Draymond Green pick up his fifth foul early in the third quarter but avoid fouling out of the game. 

Brandin Podziemski scored 26 points and Curry had 17. Alperen Sengun led the Rockets with 31. 

“There’s no pressure,” Podziemski said. “Everything I do, I’m never going to have a regretful decision. I’m just going to go out there and know and tell myself I belong, because I do.”

Buddy Hield gave the Warriors a 102-101 lead on a sidestep 3-pointer with 3:18 left in the fourth quarter, the hosts’ first lead in six minutes. Butler pushed it to a three-point advantage with a tough layup over two defenders a minute later.

Fred VanVleet tied it 30 seconds after with a long 3-pointer, one of eight he hit on Monday en route to a 25-point night.

But once again, Butler came through late by drawing a shooting foul on a 3-point attempt, holding his injured back after the shot went up. Butler made all three foul shots to give the Warriors a 107-104 lead with 58 seconds remaining, but Sengun answered with a layup.

Curry and Butler missed tough shots inside 40 seconds to give the Rockets possession with 13 seconds on the clock. With the game on the line, Green came up with the stop on Sengun, and Butler grabbed the biggest rebound of the night over Adams.

“I think my favorite play was the last rebound,” Draymond Green said. “I looked up, I thought it was Kuminga out there flying. It was Jimmy.”

Butler knocked down the two free throws, and VanVleet missed the desperation three as time expired.

In a series that had been chippy from the start, tempers flared with seven minutes in the second quarter.

Green set a hard screen on Amen Thompson, throwing an elbow. Curry, the ballhandler, was then knocked to the floor by Dillon Brooks, and Brooks proceeded to try to grab the ball from Curry as Green tried to help his teammate up.

A scrum ensued and Curry was deemed to have taunted Brooks. Curry, Green and Brooks were assessed technical fouls for their part.

That was just the start. 

With 2:44 left in the second quarter and the Rockets leading 47-46, Draymond Green fell on Tari Eason, putting his legs on Eason’s upper back.

Eason took offense, standing over Green after getting up. The Warriors forward then grabbed Eason as he tried to get up. Another scrum followed, which earned Green a flagrant — not an ejection — and Eason a technical foul with the Rockets leading 47-46.

That frantic series of events appeared to throw the Warriors off. After not having a turnover in the first 14 minutes, Golden State had four giveaways in its final five possessions of the half to help the Rockets take a 57-50 lead into halftime.

In between the stoppages, fouls and near-fights, the teams also played a basketball game.

“They were trying to muddy the game up. But it’s fine. We kept it pushing,” Draymond Green said.

Houston took a 57-50 lead into halftime, but the Warriors stormed back and took a 10-point lead in five minutes with a vintage 18-1 run that featured nine points by Hield. 

The Rockets responded with a 7-0 run, capped by a VanVleet pull-up 3-pointer after no defender picked him up in transition. 

It was a game from there, with the Rockets eventually tying the game at 74 apiece before Podziemski answered with a wide-open 3-pointer. 

Neither side could create separation until Butler took over to rip the game away from Houston and set up an elimination game in Texas.

“We know they’re going to come out and try to punch us in the mouth,” Green said. “Any team facing elimination is going to do that. You find a physical, proud team like they are, they’re definitely going to do that. Just got to go in there and take the punch, then deliver your own back.”