MINNEAPOLIS – Knowing they’ll be without Steph Curry for at least the next three games of the Western Conference semifinals due to a Grade 1 left hamstring strain, it’s clear which two aspects the Warriors are going to lean into most: Playing through Jimmy Butler, and being a tenacious team defensively.
The Warriors feel like they have the best defense in basketball, and losing the greatest shooter of all time only adds to that now being their main calling card. That means following the lead of Butler and Draymond Green, feeding off their energy and decision-making.
Kevon Looney, as he showed battling Rudy Gobert around the basket in the Warriors’ Game 1 win Tuesday night at Target Center, will be Steve Kerr’s trusted gritty veteran doing all the dirty work that doesn’t always get recognized.
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SIGN UP HERE Kerr’s offense when Curry is off the floor often runs through Butler, giving the defense a much different look than Steph trying to run through and around bodies looking to get in his way. The ball was in Butler’s hands nearly the entire second half of Game 1, knowing he’ll always make the right play with a hate for turnovers. He and Green will run the offense, and the Warriors can only hope Buddy Hield keeps having the hot hand from deep after combining for 57 points and 14 threes the past two games.
The spotlight also will grow exponentially on a teammate who always is watching Curry’s every move, waiting in the wings until he can go from sidekick to star of his own. Brandin Podziemski’s contributions are about so much more than scoring, but the open looks he usually gets will be wiped away with Curry on the sidelines, and he’ll have to provide plenty more points than he has been as of late.
Pressure makes diamonds, and the Warriors are confident Podziemski can shine under bright lights.
“BP always puts pressure on himself,” Looney said Wednesday. “He feels like he’s supposed to dominate everything when he’s out there. For me, just make sure he keeps his confidence. Don’t let missed shots or a couple bad plays affect the way he goes out there. I think he lives for moments like this. He wants to be a great player and he wants to step up.
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“You know how much he loves Steph, and how much he wants to make sure that we can be in a great spot when he gets back. I’m just making sure that I bring confidence to him to play his game.”
Podziemski admits Curry’s injury changes how aggressive he is, whether that’s to score or make plays for others. Everybody, him included, will have greater offensive responsibilities.
He has settled into being a complementary combo guard alongside Curry. Scoring often is secondary among his responsibilities, behind pushing the pace, finding teammates, grabbing rebounds over players who have multiple inches or more on him, taking charges and diving on the floor for loose balls. Naturally, more of a scoring onus will be placed upon Podziemski in Curry’s absence.
But there isn’t a complete shift in his mindset going into Thursday’s Game 2 and beyond.
“Not necessarily,” Podziemski says. “I think when you tell yourself, ‘I have to score more because someone’s out,’ there’s like a natural force factor to that and then you start taking bad shots or overthinking what you’re doing. Everybody gets a rhythm from touching the ball more.
“I’ll find offense throughout the flow of the offense in the combination with getting others involved, too.”
The first shot Podziemski took in Tuesday night’s win was a 3-pointer in rhythm and off the dribble. Hield caught Julius Randle’s missed 3-pointer four and a half minutes into the game, and gave it up to Podziemski as the Warriors were off and running.
Randle raced to find Butler. Mike Conley tracked down Curry. Anthony Edwards sprinted with Hield, and Jaden McDaniels trailed alongside Green. That left Gobert backpedaling and plenty of room for Podziemski to nail an open three. He took six more shots the rest of the night, including four threes, and missed each time.
Among the Warriors’ starting five, Podziemski was the only one to have a negative plus/minus (minus-1), and his three points were second only to Looney’s two for Warriors players who received ample playing time. Those numbers don’t change Kerr’s confidence in Podziemski, who also had eight big rebounds, one bit.
“This guy's a gamer,” Kerr said. “He's in the right spot all the time. He's sticking his nose in there, rebounding constantly. He just drives winning. I think he'll settle down. Last couple games, he's struggled a little bit with his shot, but this is all part of the playoffs. I think Brandin will be a huge part of things going forward.”
Kerr constantly refers to Podziemski as a “connector,” and that’s the exact type of player he wants him to continue being – with or without Curry.
“We don’t need to ask him to do anything differently,” Kerr continued. “It’s about handling their pressure, for all of us – the team – handling their pressure, getting loose and getting some open shots.”
Down the stretch of the regular season, as the Warriors were fighting for playoff positioning, Podziemski scored at least 20 points in three games of a four-game span. The Warriors won all three, beating the Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns. In Game 4 of the Warriors’ first-round series, he played like a veteran star who has been through these situations countless times, scoring 26 points and making six threes to help gain a three-games-to-one series lead.
Since then, Podziemski has scored 30 points in the last four games, going 12 of 35 from the field (34.3 percent) and 6 of 22 (27.3 percent) as a 3-point shooter.
Podziemski is the one who replaced Klay Thompson in the starting lineup last season as a rookie, and figured to be the Warriors’ starting shooting guard in Year 2, just to see De’Anthony Melton outplay him in training camp. Podziemski couldn’t find his shot at the beginning of the season, and then only became better both times he returned from injury. As his game grew and he secured his starting spot, the Warriors became the team they are now.
Adversity has only made Podziemski stronger in his short NBA career, and the sign of him making Curry proudest will be staring down his latest challenge and letting his production do all the talking, putting the Warriors in a place of comfort upon his mentor’s eventual return.
“You don’t got to be nobody, you don’t got to be him,” Looney said. “You don’t got to be nobody else, you just got to be the best version of yourself, and the best version of yourself is going to be great for us.”