HOUSTON — In the hours leading up to the Golden State Warriors’ surprising 115-113 victory Thursday night, their absent star, Stephen Curry, sent their remaining big name, Draymond Green, a message of encouragement.
“Keep going,” Green relayed Curry’s message. “I know it’s hard, but I promise I’ll be back.”
Jimmy Butler tore his right ACL in January and is out for the season. Kristaps Porzingis has missed six consecutive games due to illness. Curry is out indefinitely with a lingering right knee problem.
That’s $144.4 million in salary cap space as the Warriors recently fell to a 4-8 record in 12 games, leaving them six games back and a guaranteed playoff spot.
Thursday night’s finals victory over the heavily favored Rockets didn’t change their status much. The Warriors are 32-30 and are without much of their energy heading into a tough schedule in Oklahoma City on ABC Saturday night.
But Green called the win a “morale booster” at a bad time for the franchise, prompting a second wave of communication from Curry, who sent Green another text message after watching the game back in California.
“A lot of exclamation points,” Green said of Curry’s letter. “You did so.”
Third-year guard Brandin Podziemski was the team’s leading scorer, finishing with 26 points, including a 3-pointer and a dunk in overtime to create the necessary separation.
“I thought that was Brandin’s best game of the season,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
The Warriors, without three injured replacements, used three double players (LJ Cryer, Nate Williams and Malevy Leons) for big minutes off the bench. De’Anthony Melton had 23 points and capped it off with a floater.
But much of the postgame credit in the locker room went to the interior defense from Green and Al Horford. Green was assigned to Kevin Durant and Horford guarded Alperen Sengun in crunch time, and the veteran frontcourt brought the Warriors home.
“Vintage Draymond,” Kerr said. “Defense, leadership, power, passing.”
Durant couldn’t shake Green to get the basketball on several key possessions, and Horford stood up against Sengun, who missed three of his four shots in overtime.
“I’m happy that we were able to show that we can play together and do well on the road,” said Horford.
Both Kerr and Green admitted that the win was a bit of an oddity because of the location in which it happened. In their rich playoff history, they closed three series (2018, 2019, 2025) in Houston.
“This is a good structure for us,” Kerr said, saying it felt like a win. “So many great memories in that living room.”
While Curry wasn’t there to celebrate in person with the Warriors, he made his digital presence known as he tried to rehabilitate his knee injury in time to get the team back into action this season.
“My confidence level is high, finally, because I know [Curry]he’s going to put in all the work and do everything he can to come back,” Green said. “If his body allows him to come back, I know he’s going to come back. He doesn’t want to just shut it down. For us, we have to stay afloat. No one expects us to win 10 games, but you have to stay strong. Tonight is a big step towards that.”
