Was Podz to Blame for Curry's Last-Possession Miss in Warriors' Loss to Rockets?

Trailing by one with 11 seconds left, the Golden State Warriors chose not to call a timeout to set up a play for Stephen Curry.

That ended up proving costly.

Curry missed an extremely difficult three, and time expired before the Warriors could get the rebound, sealing a 117-116 loss to the Rockets.

Draymond Green was seen lecturing Brandin Podziemski on the court moments after the game ended for not setting a screen on Curry's defender. You can see the replay here.

Does Podz deserve blame for the poor execution of the final play? Let's investigate.

Green's Thought Process Made Sense

The reason Green wanted Podz to set a screen was Podz was being guarded by Alperen Sengun. Just like most bigs, the 6'11" two-time All-Star has trouble switching onto guards and defending space.

Green was being guarded by Jabari Smith Jr., who has more lateral quickness to stay with Curry.

It seems that Green's plan was to have him and Podz sets ball screens for Curry, with the hope that the result would be Sengun guarding Curry.

Podz did not get the message from Green, so Green's screen got Curry on Smith, not Sengun. To make matters worse, Amen Thompson, who was originally guarding Curry, didn't respect Green as he flared to the three-point line. Instead, Thompson took away Curry's ability to drive to the right, and Smith shaded Curry so that he couldn't go left.

That gave Curry just one option: a deep, very contested three.

Kerr, Podz, Green, Curry Share Some Blame

Any time your players are not on the same page for the final possession AND you have a timeout to use, the coach deserves blame.

"We didn't want to take the timeout because we wanted to keep their [weaker defensive players] on the floor," Kerr said. "If you take the timeout, they just put all their Dobermans in and switch everything."

Kerr added: "We wanted to give Steph a high screen, pulling their weaker defenders in. And he got a decent look, but it's probably a good clip for us to have for these last games and the play-in."

Kerr's reasoning makes sense. You don't want the Rockets to be able to take out Sengun. But if the Warriors on the court don't know the plan is to attack Sengun, then that's on Kerr to some degree.

Also, in Podz's defense, there are about five seconds left when Curry accepts Green's screen. Setting a double screen with above five seconds runs an even greater risk of Curry getting trapped and not having enough time to get the Warriors a good look.

In hindsight, it would have made more sense if Green cleared out and Podz set the only screen on the play. Green being involved in the action just made things harder for Curry and probably deterred Podz from setting a screen.

Lastly, Curry gets some blame, but not for the quality of the shot he took because he was in an impossible situation. He gets blame for not having fixed this last-possession riddle that goes back years.

Warriors, Curry Need to Fix Their Last-Possession Offense

Back in November 2023, the Warriors lost a game in a similar situation.

Down one, Green set a screen for Curry at half court with about five seconds left. The Kings doubled Curry, who bobbled the ball. He ended up taking a deep three that he missed.

In January 2024, the Kings beat the Warriors by one again after a final-possession snafu.

Green set a screen for Curry with about five seconds left. Curry got doubled. He ended up turning it over.

Including Sunday's Rockets loss, that's three times in the last three years a Green screen has only made things harder for Curry with the Warriors down one in the last moments of a game.

It's on Curry to ask for something different than a Green screen. Maybe the answer is going one-on-one, even against elite defenders like Thompson. Maybe it's getting a screen from a player who is a bigger threat to make a three on a pick-and-pop. Maybe Podz or De'Anthony Melton should have the ball and Curry can be the screener.

I don't know the best answer, but I do know what they've been doing isn't working. Somebody needs to speak up and fix it.