Takeaways from Warriors' Win Over Rockets: Durant's Clutch Misses Key Victory

With just 10 active players, the Golden State Warriors stunned the Houston Rockets 115-113 in overtime on Thursday at Toyota Center.

Brandin Podziemski had a team-high 26 points, and overall the Warriors (32-30) had six players in double figures, including LJ Cryer, who had 12.

Reed Sheppard had a game-high 30 points, and Amen Thompson had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Rockets (38-23).

Here are three takeaways from Thursday's game.

Durant Misses 2 Gigantic FTs

The Warriors had a five-point lead in overtime before they almost threw it away. It started with a De'Anthony Melton turnover that led a trip to the free-throw line for Alperen Sengun. He made the first and missed the second, but the Rockets got the offensive rebound and eventually found Durant for a three.

After Al Horford made a hook shot to give the Warriors a three-point lead, Durant got fouled on a three-point attempt. He made the first two but missed the third, taking some pressure off the Warriors in their next possession. With a one-point lead, Melton got a putback layup to put the Warriors up three.

Then Green fouled Durant so the Rockets couldn't attempt a three, but that strategy is more dangerous than it normally would be because Houston is such a good offensive rebounding team.

All Durant had to do was make the first and miss the second, and the Rockets would have a good chance to secure the offensive rebound and try to tie the game.

But Durant missed the first, essentially sealing the game for the Warriors. He then accidentally made the second, and after the Warriors inbounded the ball, the game was over.

Durant is a career 88.2 percent free-throw shooter. But he's human. And on Thursday, he missed a couple gigantic ones.

Green Shows Again He Can Get Up for Big Games

At 36 years old, Draymond Green struggles to get up for every game.

Lately, he's been having more duds than good games, which is troubling.

But then he has a game like he did Thursday that reminds everyone what he's capable of when the lights are brightest.

Green had 10 points, eight assists, five rebounds and great defense primarily guarding Durant.

Sure, Durant ended up with 23 points, but most of his points were scored when the Warriors were forced to switch and put someone else on the two-time Finals MVP.

Durant came into the game on a heater, averaging 29.4 points in his last seven games. So simply deterring him to shoot all—he had just 16 field-goal attempts in 41 minutes—was a key to the Warriors' victory.

"Vintage Draymond," Steve Kerr told reporters after the game. "The defense, the leadership, the force, the passing."

NBC Sports Bay Area's Dalton Johnson noted that Golden State's defensive rating was 141.9 with Green off the court and 104.5 with Green on the court.

Green finished plus-12, which was the second-highest for the Warriors behind Gui Santos' plus-20 rating.

Cryer Makes Case for Bigger Role

The Warriors have made great use of their two-way contract pipeline, and it paid off again Thursday.

LJ Cryer played 20 minutes and had 12 points on four threes. He hit a huge three in overtime to give Golden State a two-point lead.

It would have been totally understandable if Cryer shrunk on the big stage in his fourth career NBA game. But instead, the 2021 NCAA champion came up clutch.

At 6'0", Cryer might never have a huge NBA role. Even though he's a tough defender, his lack of size is too easy to take advantage of.

With that said, his three-point shooting is real.

In 18 G League games this season, Cryer is shooting 44.9 percent from three.

The 24-year-old is on a two-year, two-way contract. The Warriors can and should keep him on his two-way deal to see if he develops more as a passer and defender, and if he does, they can give him a standard contract deep into next season like they did with Pat Spencer this year.