[Highlight] Alperen Sengun hits the game-winner in the paint over Brandin Podziemski, as Steph Curry misses the potential game-winning deep 3 (with replays).
Rockets win.
Kerr really put 4 guards out there for a DEFENSIVE stop lmao
aren;t all their tall dudes hurt + KP fouled out?
Coulda use a big guy like Bassey still would be much better than having 4 G out there.
It was his literal first day with the team.
He played with the SeaDubs and multiple other NBA teams this year, but I understand not necessarily trusting him for the final defensive possession since he doesn’t really know their tendencies (and they don’t know his). Definitely could have helped to have him lurking in the paint though.
Podz made the right read/rotation to contest, just way too small to junk up Sengun’s shot (…and it unfortunately looks like he may have missed his read on the offensive end, seems he was supposed to set a second pick right after Dray)
Or an athletic guy like Kuminga
Bassey was available, and he actually blocked Sengun in the game, under the rim, on a post move.
Bassey available. so was Gui
Gui really looked lost in the second half of this game. I understand not putting him in for a clutch play.
Gui rotating over on Sengun for one possession immediately after being instructed during the timeout is NOT a big ask. It would’ve still been a good look for Sengun, but at least Santos wouldve made it a bit harder than 6’4” Podz with a 6’5” wingspan. FYI, Gui is 6’8” with a 7’ wingspan.
Here’s what happened: Kerr did not want to call timeout after a potential Rockets bucket and let them set their defense to deny Steph the ball on a front court inbounds. He put out his best offensive lineup, essentially conceding a high percentage 2-point attempt knowing the Warriors would have the last shot. Stage was set for Steph, and it worked, until the action. Curry got to jog the ball up, get comfortable and begin the designed play……but Podziemski CLEARLY either forgot or chose not to set the second of a double screen that was drawn up. You clearly see Draymond yelling at Podz that he should be screening behind him after the buzzer sounds.
The plan might’ve been to have Sengun end up in Curry island
Yep, getting downhill on Sengun would’ve been PERFECT, with Amen trailing which is still scary but better than what ended up happening. Worst case, KD smartly pre switches, but at least it would be Steph going at a defender with the other trailing, instead of having to shoot over a double team in front of him.
I don’t understand it man, I thought for sure he was gonna put Bassey and Santos in. Why does it matter if they’re gonna foul too much? I’d rather have size that could potentially get a stop, or free throws that aren’t 100% certain in going in, rather than a guaranteed 2.
Just Santos would’ve helped. Ffs he started the game too. Let him close it out.
I’m guessing he was injured. He had a really bad night
i mean that 4 guard lineup was getting defensive stops for most of the end of the 4th quarter
they were not running 4 guard lineup for most of that 4th quarter. and once Podz subbed in, Rockets scored or got to foul line for most of the possessions to close 4th
Kerr loves small line ups
His defenses have been bailed out by Draymond being the best defender of his generation until very very recently
i mean, the other day Wemby was literally more than a foot taller than any of the warriors players on the floor for a lot of the game
Not just 4 guards but 4 guards and a draymond
Half the fans in The Warriors sub will tell you don’t question Steve, he has 4 rings…
You mind looking up how many bigs we have who aren’t injured and weren’t fouled out?
That lineup is just too tiny to guard him. At least put Santos in.
I’d probably trust Whitaker or Javadi before Santos in this situation, tbh
Whitaker too concerned with his farm girl, Javadi crumbling under the pressure of her parents
Having The Pitt reference in here feels good man
Whittaker has farmboy power that would help him contest. Javadi is too well studied. She’s be able to pick out the play that was coming.
steve kerr hates tall people
Santos is a better floor spacer than Draymond, Melton or GP2.
How did so many fans think that bucket at the end counted? It was way after the buzzer lmao
They all expected a 38yo Curry back from injury game to have a storybook ending
reggie miller and that broadcast crew did for sure
Yeah that was pretty annoying commentary lol
It’s against the rockets. Damn sure everybody held their breath when the shot left his hands.
Nah he always misses the game winners
Please, I knew he was bricking that shit.
I was watching it on a 5-inch screen on shitty plane wifi and even I could tell it was way too late.
most annoying is when ref blows whistle and someone makes a shot like 3 seconds after and they think it counts
Warriors fans are notoriously stupid
Hilariously ironic thing for a Laker fan to say.
Now to be fair you two genuinely are the two teams with the largest proportion of casuals in the fanbase
oh, no doubt.
In this case it was like ‘right message wrong messenger’ lol
I’ve heard that arena explode on a play like that midway through the third, let alone at the buzzer when that kind of foolish optimism can be excused
-/r/nba after every fanbase does anything
Probably so focused on the ball they didn’t pay attention to the time
Draymond really wanted Podz to set another screen so Curry could have Sengun guarding him out on the perimeter
Yep. Good call out. Action was there but podz clearly misses it. Tough break
I dislike Podz lol, I feel his body gestures always take no accountability. I could be totally wrong but not a fan 🤷🏻
I used to think he was useful, but now hate him with all my heart. Fake hustle
He’s fine for his salary. He just needs to stick to SG and out of clutch time. But it’s not like Kerr is swimming in available players. Lots of young guys and contract players. I don’t think Podz will be put in to close games if the teams healthy.
I was never a Podz fan, but as a lifelong (since May 2024) Indiana Fever fan, he was a bit much on the sidelines in the game we had against the Valkyries in SF.
I am now a lifelong Podz hater.
Yeah you can tell draymond had a plan how to set up Steph
I know he’s a dick head and dirty but he really is a super smart basketball player on both ends. His chemistry with Steph is all time
Ah this makes sense. It seemed weird that the only action the Warriors took would involve Thompson and Jabari….
So you’re saying Draymond is gonna beat up Podz after the game
This is the 3rd game winner for the Rockets this season, and Sengun’s first career game winning shot in the final 24 seconds of the game.
I seriously don’t think that’s true. Sengun’s hit game wonders for us before.
His only other game winning shot* with any amount of time left on the clock was earlier this season against the Mavs, however there were 28 seconds left on the clock, so it gets excluded. Game winners aren’t an official stat so I just draw the line at 24s. Some people draw the line at 20s or 10s, and if you drew the line at 30s then that other one would qualify.
*: A game winning shot is defined technically as a player scoring points when tied/behind to put your team ahead, and those points create a lead which the opposing team never matches, and then obviously your team wins. A go-ahead shot which is then matched by the other team could have been a “potential” game winner, but then it was erased by the other team scoring. Incidentally, Sengun has a bunch of those, so I guess he has just been unlucky with his potential game winners!
That’s a pretty arbitrary cutoff, but thanks for the source!
That’s weird, I could have sworn he had like 6 game winners at least. I think he had a lot of game tying buckets, and a lot of clutch 1-2 point lead 2nd last possesion of the game before the ball goes to the other team buckets
Yeah I remember him tying the game for sure, but I guess not many actual go-ahead last shots that we won off (i feel like when he gives us a 1 point lead late we often fuck it up)
r/nba 9⁄11
My goat
Ime drew up a successful last minute go ahead bucket, I’m shocked
u/MrBuckBuck did what u/Large_Banana_Hammock could not (post the correct highlight of the Sengun game winner)
Porzingis lost them this one. Sengun just bullied him whenever he was on the court.
Curry going super saiyan as always against us and almost stole the win
Zingis and Tari cancel out, at least Zingis did some useful things on the court early on
Yea but for warriors Porzingis needs to play a bigger role than Tari does for us. Not ideal for them as he isn’t too reliable but that’s just their current roster.
great play
That’s an And-1 on any other possession too
Warriors the most dangerous 10th seed
Feel like I’ve heard this about the Warriors th last four seasons
To be fair I think you could have beaten the Wolves if Steph stayed healthy last year
I agree, though we would have probably lost to the Thunder anyways
okc is way too bad a match-up for them. honestly, probably spurs if they somehow go it too
i just dont see it. Steph fucked us in both those games but an underrated part of those games was Jimmy’s ability to score + rebound. without him you’re basically asking Steph to score 40+ a game for a 7 game series.
you don’t think that monster can do it?
even if he did, he scored 40+ in both games against us with Butler scoring 28 and 21. who’s making up that production?
hmm fair point, can’t really rely on kp or podz to score at a consistent level with the spurs defense. What they’re really gonna have to rely on is curry’s gravity to try and get open looks lol
not to mention on butler 28 game they also had moody at 19, and so basically from that 5 point game warriors now lost their 47 worth of points on season ending inuries
Excactly. People are giving this current lineup way too much credit.
It’s not happening.
We have pingus
we match up better against Pingus than Jimmy
Do you really think we’re win 2 games in a row ?
Tbf Curry is probably the other best counter to Wemby along with Jokic (Jokic releases high enough to get the ball over him, Curry scores from areas that he can’t really do much about)
But yeah the rest of the roster definitely isn’t holding up in a series lol
I know it’s Steph but you gotta get a better shot than a heavily contested 3 down just 1.
Those are the only shots we get because Draymond’s man just hard doubles the ball handler like he did at the end of this game.
It’s 4 on 5
looks like Draymond wanted Podz to set a 2nd screen that would maybe force Sengun to switch on Steph. but Podz was like “nah”
I’ve seen Kerr’s other end of game play calls, I’ll take a contested Curry 3 every time over those
Yeah that’s a terrible shot but wild he still almost made it.
Give this guy some credit. He really deserves.
This is why Podz will never be that dude. Draymond is reading the defense setup, waves multiple times to Podz to set a double screen with him, and this dude just ignores him. You have one of the best game reading dudes of all time telling you to do something, and he is just like nah bro I’m cool.
One of nearly endless reasons why Podz will never be that dude.
I’ll never really understand this. The Warriors were down 1, why take a long three pointer?
this is something that bugs the hell out of me whenever a team goes for a final shot like that, and it happens all the goddamn time too
winning by 2 and winning by 1 are exactly the same! what the hell are you doinggg
Late but podz was supposed to set another screen to force sengun to switch onto curry. At least in that situation curry could blow by for the two, but the blitz out of dray’s frost screen meant there was nothing much left
Lmao why are the fans celebrating?
They thought the put back counted
Holy unawareness
Should have been a double screen for curry making it a curry-sengun mismatch. But podz didn’t move and stood there wanting to take the shot. The ball is in the hands of the goat of 3s. Screen for him. My god.
Nah he always bricks the game winners anyways, wouldn’t have mattered.
Nah, you know for a fact that that’s not true. You just salty coz your team hasn’t won a playoff series against the dubs.
Steph is literally the worst go-ahead scorer in the history of the playoffs. As amazing as he is, he is not great on final shots.
Shampoo is the best player in the NBA
Fraudulent Kerr and his favorite son fraudulent Podz
We’re going to beat the Lakers in the 4-5 and then the real nightmare scenario happens when GS wins the play in and beats OKC in the first round.
LMAO. That’s on Kerr.
[deleted]
Not really, Kerr just always gives us our hardest battles
If they didn’t choke games they’d have like 55 wins right now
Shit we’d be closer to 60 than 50 if we could keep it together in the 4th lmao
We probably have the biggest ‘embarrassing blown leads’ compilation in the entire league this season
Their eye test is utter trash, but they find ways to win
poetic
I reckon podz should have just shoulder charged sengun.
Brandin ya dumbass 🤣
Draymond way out of position lol
can only recall a handful of curry game winners. ever
He ain’t that guy. Never has been.
He is 0-14 in playoff go-ahead shots which is literally the worst of all time out of anyone. He is not a good final shot maker. But you’re not allowed to say anything remotely critical about Steph on here.
Dude is a front runner. I’ve lost track of how many runs the Warriors went on while he was on the bench in the playoffs during their prime years, only for him to check back in and hit a couple of threes after the bench already erased a deficit.
In 2016 the warriors were winning the conference semi finals with Steph injured playing zero minutes. Then he returned for the final 2 games and everyone gave him all the credit for the series win even though they were already winning without him. His fanbase is almost cult-like, he can do no wrong, gets none of the blame, and gets all of the credit.
The Curry isn’t clutch narrative is probably the dumbest one in the entire NBA lol… One of the clutchest players in the league
i’m open to changing my mind. back up your claim with facts and numbers, please.
For his career, Curry is 42% from 3 in the clutch, 91% from FT in the clutch, 63% TS in the clutch, which would be elite numbers for a whole game, but he puts those percentages when the pressure is highest. He’s had 29 go-ahead/game-tying shots in the last 24 seconds of a game, which is really good due to the types of shots and the defense that he faces. And he routinely leads improbable clutch comebacks which you all discount because he missed the last second shot. Tonight’s game is a prime example of that. He made a couple massive threes and a couple massive layups to keep Golden State in the game. But because he missed the gamewinner, he’s suddenly not clutch? Is LeBron not clutch because he missed the gamewinner in G6 of the 2013 Finals? Being clutch is not just hitting a cool gamewinning buzzer beater. It’s about how you play whenever your team needs you to step up, and Curry consistently knocks down buckets whenever his team needs him to. You can go on YouTube and you’ll find 10-20 minute long compilations of Curry’s clutch greatness. It’s undeniable and this narrative should have died a decade ago.
Now how fun was That everyone ! Curry kept us watching with his heroics. Nobody wants to play us in the first round if we make it . Lacob needs to do whatever he can to stack this roster next year .
Curry showing the urgency of an exhibition game.
You have 11 seconds left and you’re only down 1, how is THAT the shot you get?
FAQ since 2015
Dumbasses gon use this to add to the Curry isn’t clutch narrative bro
Classic Steve lol
Udoka to Alpi:
Just when I think you couldn’t possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this… and totally redeem yourself!
We just changing the entire definition of a “game winner” now….?
There was a whole shot-clock left ….
So, by that logic, if nobody scores for let’s say, the last 5 minutes of a game, whoever scored the last points, of the team that’s up, regardless of the discrepancy of the score, hit the “game winner”? 🤔
lol tbh if that’s the case, then every game that’s played, should have a “game winner” instead of merely “x team beat y team”
Don’t they usually call that the “go-ahead game winner” if it puts you over the other team to win but isn’t a last-second shot
Lol