Warriors vs. Rockets Game 6 player grades: Steph Curry struggles to find separation, Jimmy Butler III nearly gets a triple-double

Well, the Golden State Warriors messed around and found out. They played with their food for far too long, and now they’ve squandered a 3-1 series lead. They lost 115-107 to the Houston Rockets on Friday, at home, setting up a Game 7 showdown on Sunday night, where both teams will be in win-or-go-home mode.

Not ideal!

So let’s grade the players who screwed up a prime opportunity to clinch and advance. As always, grades are based on my expectations for each player, with a “B” grade representing the average performance for that player.

Note: True-shooting percentage (TS) is a scoring efficiency metric that accounts for threes and free throws. League-average TS this year was 57.6%.

Gary Payton II

20 minutes, 5 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, 3 fouls, 2-for-5 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 50.0% TS, -12

Payton was inserted into the starting lineup, and tasked with defending Fred VanVleet. The results weren’t good — FVV finished with an outrageously efficient 29 points, with eight assists — but Payton did a decent job on him. VanVleet had a case of good offense beating good defense, but it certainly wasn’t Payton’s best defense … and he really didn’t contribute anywhere else.

Grade: C

Jimmy Butler III

42 minutes, 27 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 7-for-17 shooting, 1-for-6 threes, 12-for-14 free throws, 58.3% TS, -12

It’s a sign of how good Butler is that the game ended and I thought, “Well, Butler’s clearly still injured and that’s tilting the series” … only to look at the box score and realize he had 27, nine, and eight, with only one turnover.

He was perhaps the best Warrior, though I’m not changing my tune: he wouldn’t be playing if this were the regular season and, as a result, he’s not playing as well as he normally would. But he’s still Playoff Jimmy, so his sub-par performances are still outrageously good.

Butler kept the Warriors in the game, especially in the third quarter when he repeatedly muscled his way past Houston’s defense to get good looks.

Grade: A-
Post-game bonus: Led the team in rebounds and assists.

Draymond Green

37 minutes, 8 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks, 4 turnovers, 3 fouls, 3-for-8 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 1-for-2 free throws, 45.0% TS, -8

Draymond nearly cost the Warriors the game early on, when he sent a wholly unnecessary elbow and open hand into Jalen Green while trying to shed him. It only ended up being a Flagrant 1, but could have easily been a Flagrant 2 and an ejection. Once this series got chippy I thought it would benefit the Warriors, who are older and more experienced, and thus much more familiar with playing through high emotions and intensity. But Draymond has flipped that, as he looks far more rattled than any Rockets player.

He simply cannot flirt with flagrants or technicals on Sunday. He just can’t do it.

Anyway, he was whatever in this game. Some really nice defense and some great passes, but also some very poor moments.

Grade: C

Buddy Hield

17 minutes, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 turnover, 4 fouls, 0-for-4 shooting, 0-for-4 threes, 0.0% TS, -3

Just a very bad game for Buddy. He’s been a difference-maker at times during this series, but he sure wasn’t on Friday. Or at least, not in a good way. Hield provided nothing on offense and nothing on defense.

Grade: D

Steph Curry

42 minutes, 29 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers, 4 fouls, 9-for-23 shooting, 6-for-16 threes, 5-for-6 free throws, 56.6% TS, -11

I think the series and the season will come down to this: if Curry can find a way to get free and open on Sunday, the Warriors will win and march on to the semis. If he can’t, they won’t, and it will be a long and confusing offseason.

Curry’s numbers were fine, and he had a few clutch shots, but … just not a particularly impactful game. The Warriors, unfortunately, aren’t good enough to regularly win that way (though they did in Game 4). The coaching staff has a lot of work to do in the next 40 hours to get Steph some better looks.

Grade: C
Post-game bonus: Led the team in points.

Brandin Podziemski

29 minutes, 10 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, 3 fouls, 4-for-9 shooting, 2-for-6 threes, 55.6% TS, -3

Podz was moved out of the starting lineup, but still made a pretty strong impact. He entered the game and provided an immediate dose of energy that was contagious to his teammates. The direction of the game changed, as Podziemski drew two quick charges and was all over the court for loose balls and rebounds.

He really struggled on offense though. That’s a theme, it seems. Houston has just locked down the Dubs.

Grade: B+

Quinten Post

18 minutes, 5 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal, 5 fouls, 2-for-6 shooting, 1-for-4 threes, 41.7% TS, -9

Not a very good Post game. He couldn’t leave his imprint on offense and he really got beat up on defense. The foul total is a bit misleading, as the bulk of them were when the Dubs went to a hack-a-Adams approach, but still … he just wasn’t very playable defensively, and couldn’t stop Houston from gathering offensive rebounds.

Grade: C

Moses Moody

22 minutes, 13 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover, 2 fouls, 5-for-13 shooting, 3-for-5 threes, 50.0% TS, -16

Moody’s numbers weren’t very good. He shot with mediocre efficiency, didn’t have a lot of secondary stats, and had the worst plus/minus on the team.

But I thought he played pretty darn well. For starters, he played like he gave a damn. He was both confident and aggressive, stepping into a three within a few seconds of entering the game, and later trying for a poster dunk that he just missed. He played defense with the same intensity. The numbers didn’t end up very sightly, but in a game where the Warriors kind of just didn’t show up, Moody did.

Grade: B+
Post-game bonus: Worst plus/minus on the team.

Kevon Looney

2 minutes, 0 points, 2 rebounds, 2 fouls, -1

Looney just hasn’t been a great fit in this series, and it seems like Steve Kerr finally gave up making that work this game. I’d imagine that will also be the case on Sunday. The Dubs aren’t going to beat the Rockets by matching their size or interior presence, so it’s time to beat them in other ways. Jonathan Kuminga, anyone?

Grade: Incomplete