How Buddy Hield from Warriors relaunched Golden State with the match 7 Performance for the Ages against Rockets

If you had said to someone who watched matches 5 and 6 of the Warriors-Reckets first round series that in match 7, on the road, that Golden State would be in the mid-time with Stephen Curry having only three points, you would have laughed at the room in which you were.

But that's what happened. Curry did not make his first shot before he left 33 seconds left in the first half, and in a way, the Warriors were, indeed, up 12 against a team of Rockets who had not only beaten them, but had completely dominated the two previous games.

How did it happen? A few things. The Warriors took care of the ball, committing only seven reversals (large accessories in Curry for having managed this game in a disciplined way even when it could not advance its own offense). They played an incredible defense; Huge accessories in Steve Kerr to wait until he really needs to throw a rocket on the rockets to release an area. Young people and rockets by shots had no chance of reacting to this on the fly and they could do nothing.

But above all, Buddy Hield played the game of his professional life. Hield sank six 3 points on the way around 22 first half points, representing almost 50% of the Golden State offensive during the first two quarters and what could only be described as a sigh of half-time margin.

Hield was not finished. He scored 11 more points in the fourth quarter to give him 33 for the match on nine 3 points, this Mark linking Donte Divincenzo Nba Record for the greatest number of people in a match 7.

Hield has mainly made thoracic compressions on an offense of Warriors which had been reduced during the two previous games. The 42 feet he hit to beat the first trimester buzzer had finally brought Golden State back to life. It was still not a generally comfortable offensive performance for the Warriors, but someone had to charge the rockets for all the attention they paid in Curry.

Jimmy Butler seemed to be the man for work, and even if he ended up with 20 points, he was not trying to score as aggressively, all the earlier, because you would have thought. Moses Moody looked completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of the moment, seriously missing his five strokes. Jonathan Kuminga was zero. Gary Payton II did not play because he was sick. Brandin Podziemski missed six of his seven 3. Draymond Green intensified with both ends, but also missed six of his eight 3.

But there was then Buddy, almost alone carrying the notation charge until Curry was able to return the switch with 19 points in the second half. Hield is from top to bottom all season for the Warriors. He started on fire, then cold for months. He moved around rotation, sometimes damn close to losing his place completely. It is a perfect testimony to the confidence of a world class shooter. He remains ready. He does not hesitate.

Imagine the stones that it takes, after having missed 12 of your last 15 3 points in the series and the six in the last two games, to enter a match 7 on the road which draws as if you were on a radiator from the start. Remember that Hield was completely out of the rotation for three eliminatory games with the 76ers last year. Is it not funny how you put it alongside Curry and Green, and now Butler, and the best absolute version comes out of him at a time when the margin of error had shrunk.

“I thought his defense was huge tonight,” said Kerr about Hield. “One of the keys to the match was that Fred Vanvleet only obtained two free throws. Fred just destroyed the last three games … and I thought Buddy had done an excellent job on him and on [Jalen] Green (who only achieved eight points on eight shots). It was therefore not only a performance of shooting in the light of Buddy. It was a double -meaning performance. “”

So now, the Warriors get the Timberwolves in the second round, and they will pose a lot of the same problems as Houston for the Warriors. Minnesota is also an extremely athletic and physical defensive team that has the ability to overwhelm warriors on offensive glass. But in addition to that, they have the top scorer at Anthony Edwards who still lacks.

So it's going to be another fight. It starts on Tuesday, so not much rest for aging warriors. But hey, they are alive and in the second round of the playoffs. This is a whole team that was below .500 on the deadline for trade, and they have Buddy Hield to thank for a large part of it.