Al Horford took five three-pointers at Toyota Center on Wednesday night and made none of them, finishing with two points and one rebound in 20 minutes and 57 seconds as the Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors 115-108 and ended an eight-game winning streak. He was the starting center. He was 1-for-7 from the floor.
Nothing Landed on Either Job the Start Is Built On
Golden State starts Horford to do two things: space the floor from above the arc and hold the glass at the five. On Wednesday he did neither, going 0-for-5 from three and collecting one rebound in nearly 21 minutes against a Houston front line that got 19 points from Alperen Şengün.
Entering Wednesday he had shot 40.7 percent from three and averaged 4.0 rebounds in 17.6 minutes across nine games. Those rates are what the start was built on, and this was one night against them — one game barely moves a nine-game number, but it can decide a game, and this one did.
Stephen Curry’s First-Quarter Exit Raised the Price of Every Miss
Stephen Curry was ruled out with right abdominal soreness after 5 minutes and 35 seconds and three points. Anthony Slater of ESPN reported that Curry yelled in pain after releasing a 28-foot three with 7:22 left in the first quarter and signaled toward the bench; Golden State trailed 19-10 at the time.
From there the offense ran through Yaxel Lendeborg, who scored 18 of his 25 points in the first half and finished with 10 rebounds, and Brandin Podziemski, who had 22 on 7-of-15 shooting. The Warriors shot 36-of-88 as a team and 17-of-51 from three. Five empty possessions from the man stationed above the arc are expensive inside that arithmetic.
The Four Assists and the Plus-Minus Argue Back
Horford also had four assists and no turnovers, and his minus-7 was the smallest deficit of the five Warriors starters: Draymond Green was minus-20, Podziemski minus-17, Lendeborg minus-15, Curry minus-9. Golden State lost ground with Horford on the floor, but less of it than with anyone else who started.
That is why Wednesday reads as a shot-making night rather than a lineup argument. Golden State has been working through an unsettled starting spot at center since the opening week, and Steve Kerr left Horford out there for more minutes than his season average rather than pulling him early.
Friday in San Antonio Asks for the Shot and the Rebound
Neither Horford nor Kerr was asked about Horford’s night. The postgame questions went to Curry’s abdomen, which is the bigger story and will stay that way until the imaging comes back, so what follows rests on the box score and the game situation alone.
Which leaves the next game to answer it. If Curry misses time, Golden State needs the corner-to-top-of-the-arc shot to go in and the rebound at the five to get collected, because Lendeborg and Podziemski taking 34 shots between them is not a plan the Warriors can run twice. Horford has produced both this season. Friday, Nov. 13, at San Antonio is the first chance to show Wednesday was the night and not the setting.
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