Steph Curry’s return spoiled as Warriors botch final play vs Rockets

SAN FRANCISCO — Dissecting the final play of the Warriors’ loss to the Rockets in Steph Curry’s return, many fans’ eyes darted to Brandin Podziemski.

The third-year guard appeared to miss Draymond Green signaling for him to come to the top of the key and act as a second screener for Curry, who was forced to take a contested look that clanked off the rim as time expired in the 117-116 defeat Sunday night.

After practice a day later, Podziemski explained why he didn’t leave his spot on the left side of the floor, where De’Anthony Melton had also initially set up.

“In those low-clock moments, you want to give your best players as much space as you can to … just make a play,” Podziemski said. “You don’t want to crowd them with bodies.”

Curry had scored eight points in the final five minutes to pull the Warriors from down double digits to within one with 11 seconds left. He brought the ball up the middle of the court, trailing Green, who attempted to free Curry from Amen Thompson.

It instead resulted in both Thompson and Green’s defender, Jabari Smith Jr., with their arms in Curry’s face as he heaved the game-winner that wasn’t to be.

Podziemski remained stationary on the left wing, even though Green appeared to motion at him as he curled to set the screen for Curry. The Warriors hoped to target Alperen Sengun, who ended up on Podziemski, but the young guard was concerned about involving a third defender.

“I think it was a little jumbled up because you had Steph coming down the middle of the floor and we had me and Melton and Draymond on the left side and I think Gary on the right side,” Podziemski said. “We all know we wanted Sengun in it. But as soon as I saw Dray go screen, I was like, ‘I’m not gonna bring a third guy into the equation.’ … 

“I don’t want to run up there with Sengun just because I have Sengun on me, to bring another guy into his airspace, so I kind of just left it be where it was.”

Curry said the plan was to get Sengun in a pick-and-roll situation. Instead, “everything kind of got a little stagnant at the top of the key,” he said. “It seemed like there was a wall at the 3-point line and I couldn’t figure out exactly where to go.”

The shot fell off iron and Curry’s return to the court received a rotten ending. With Green as their largest player on the court, they weren’t able to stop Sengun from converting in the paint to reclaim the lead after Golden State pulled ahead ever so briefly 115-114 with 20 seconds left.

“We probably could have done a couple things better on the last two possessions, one on defense and one on offense,” Kerr said. “But all in all, really, really impressive display from our guys getting back into the game, making big shots, big plays and giving ourselves a chance.”