Brandin Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga help the Warriors overcome overtime scares in Houston

HOUSTON — Perhaps the biggest strategic question mark with this Warriors team is whether it has enough secondary shooting around Steph Curry to generate offense in the most tense moments when its movement falters.

On Saturday night in Houston, the Rockets became the first team to truly test this perceived weakness. After the Warriors jumped out to a 31-point lead in the first half, Ime Udoka fell behind in the second half and let his defensive group of young wingers switch things up, putting pressure all over the court and forcing the Warriors to come out of it Dribble out to score and score against them.

The strategy turned the game around. Houston outscored the Warriors by 28 points in the second half and even led briefly. The Warriors appeared to be panicking and struggled to even cross half the field on several occasions. A game that seemed out of reach went into overtime. The Warriors ultimately won 127-121, but the shaky path to victory was telling.

The Warriors were without Curry for the third straight game because he sprained his left ankle, which put Brandin Podziemski at the center of attention. At several key moments in the fourth quarter, Podziemski's dribble was blocked by Amen Thompson and Tari Eason, part of a 13-0 run by the Rockets to open the quarter.

But Podziemski reacted, increased his dribbling and delivered three of the highest shots of the evening in the decisive minute. Podziemski said he spent part of his summer training trying to become a better isolation scorer against bigger defenders, believing he has a higher offensive ceiling than many predict.

“When teams try to go faster, they play slower,” Podziemski said.

Here is the first of Podziemski's three consecutive appearances towards the end of regular time. He kept Jalen Green on his back with a left diagonal dribble toward the left block, turned back to the right and sent both Green and Jabari Smith Jr. into the air with a pump fake, creating an opening for another pivot and a simple left hook was created.

Of the three, Podziemski's second clutch mark may have been his most impressive. The Warriors lined him up against Thompson, a 6-foot-10 winger known for his elite defensive technique, and Podziemski patiently pushed him into the lane and pushed a layup past him. Ninety seconds later, he beat another, much larger defender, Smith, with another methodical drive and spin and finished the game with a 9-foot fadeaway. Both makes are here.

Those three shots brought the Warriors within six points with 51 seconds left.

“It wasn’t Fred (VanVleet) with him,” Draymond Green said. “He took Amen to the post a few times. He attacks bigger guys and makes shots. As much as I want to praise his skills, that's heart. That means, “I want the ball right now and I'm going to do everything I can to score this basketball.” Obviously his footwork is great. But this is pure will and determination. That’s why he leads the league in plus/minus.”

For nearly a decade, the Warriors rarely blew a two-possession lead in the final minute of a game. They've done this a few times in recent seasons, the most memorable being last season's difficult stretch where they lost consecutive road games to the Kings and Clippers.

The final seconds on Saturday felt a little like they did a season ago. The Warriors led by five with 19 seconds left. Smith hit a 3 to cut the number to two. Podziemski mistakenly put the inbounds in trouble before calling a timeout, meaning the Warriors couldn't advance. They executed the ensuing inbound with no outlet in the backfield, which resulted in a Green turnover.

“We put Draymond in a tough spot,” Kerr said.

This allowed the Rockets to go to overtime, which has been dangerous for the Warriors lately. They had lost 11 straight games on the road in overtime before Saturday. Green was fouled at the end of regulation time. Podziemski was fouled 90 seconds into overtime. Against a Rockets team that had turned up the pressure, they were missing all key ballplayers.

Kerr discussed the best strategy with his staff and decided on defense, fielding Kevon Looney, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and Kyle Anderson, confident that this group could hold back a tiring Rockets unit.

The strategy worked. The Warriors held the Rockets to 2 points in the five minutes of overtime. But they still needed to score points to win and Kuminga's goalscoring ability got them over the finish line.

Kuminga spent much of his summer honing his skills as both a scorer and passer. He wants to be a complete player, even if his assigned role with the Warriors often limits his responsibilities. He worked hard on his midrange work and it came in handy on one of the most important possessions of the night.

The Warriors identified Jalen Green as Houston's weak link and demanded a guard to get him to trade for Kuminga. Kuminga charged at his former G League Ignite teammate, spun back and scored a soft fadeaway over Thompson's late double.

“I worked on it a lot,” Kuminga said. “It’s not something I just did.”

Kuminga's next two overtime periods, which could be described as decisive in a five-minute, low-scoring stretch, played out exactly the way Kerr and his coaching staff prefer. Here's the first: Kuminga starts that transition ball under the rim, but zooms past everyone with his elite speed and then breaks out into a soft left-handed layup before the Rockets can come back.

With 1:20 left, he takes Smith off the dribble and forces his way to the rim for another left-handed layup.

That gave Kuminga 23 points in his 26 minutes, his third straight productive game off the bench after three lackluster performances in the starting lineup to open the season. He made two 3s, grabbed six rebounds and fought his way to the line with ten free throws, attacking post misalignments.

“I don’t want him to love coming off the bench,” Green said. “He believes he is a superstar. I think he's a superstar. As long as you believe that, you shouldn't have a good time coming off the bench. How you react is important. You can respond by pouting. Or you can do what you can to help the team win. That's what he does. We shouldn’t just talk about his game, we should also talk about his maturity.”

Draymond Green on Jonathan Kuminga: “You shouldn’t love coming off the bench. But it's important how you react… We shouldn't just talk about his game, we should also talk about his maturity.” pic.twitter.com/glkuHef8qJ

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 3, 2024

Green said Looney came into the locker room after the game and told the team that this was a game the Warriors definitely lost a season ago. They haven't recovered and stabilized often after blowing big leads over the last three seasons. They did that in Houston, improving their record to 5-1, with Curry possibly returning as early as Monday in Washington, DC

(Photo of Jonathan Kuminga shooting against Jabari Smith Jr. in overtime Saturday night: Tim Warner / Getty Images)