14 hours Ago By Billy Heyen
The Golden State Warriors faced fourth-and-long and decided to punt and play for another day. Wrong sport, sure, but really a workable analogy for the approach Steve Kerr and his staff took to Game 5 against the Rockets. It could help out in a major way in Friday night's Game 6.
Here's how it all worked out in a great way for Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green: MORE: LeBron James risks terrible Bryce James mistake How many minutes did Curry, Butler, Green play in Game 5 vs. Rockets? Steve Kerr and his coaching staff pulled the plug with 18 minutes still to play in Game 5. The Rockets were crushing Golden State, and that's when Kerr made the decision to punt.
Butler finished with 25 minutes, followed by 23 for Curry and 18 for Green. MORE: The possibility of LeBron James leaving the Lakers is real How many minutes will Warriors' Big 3 play in Game 6 vs. Rockets? Steve Kerr expects a huge allotment of minutes for his stars.
"We're ready to give our guys heavy minutes, and they're ready for it," Kerr told reporters before the game. Kerr said all three of Curry, Butler and Green could approach or exceed the 40-minute mark if the game is close. Butler, aka Playoff Jimmy, does that often this time of year.
Golden State is generally careful with the aging Curry and Green, but with the chance to close out the series before a Game 7, this would be the time to play them as much as possible. MORE: LeBron makes announcement about Luka's new contract.
