Just one day ago, although no troubles, JJ Redick decided to keep his starters playing for the entire second half. It had never been seen in the postseason. However, while Redick did reveal it wasn’t part of his plans, Kendrick Perkins suspected one huge reason behind his decision. “There is not one guy on the bench JJ Redick could trust,” he told Stephen A. Smith. Well, tonight, Steve Kerr was forcefully put in such a situation.

The Warriors’ ambition of going up 3-1 did came under jeopardy. With almost the entire third quarter to go, Draymond Green had picked up five fouls as a result of the scrappy nature of their tie. It left the Bay without its defensive anchor. But it was also the moment their motto ‘Strength in Numbers’ came alive.

“Again, this is what the playoffs are about. Injuries, foul trouble, you know, guys have to step up. I thought Quinten Post gave us really good minutes. We just had to survive some minutes. Loon, Trayce gave us almost 6 minutes to help us survive and buy Draymond some time on the bench. So everybody just did what they had to do to keep us going,” an impressed Steve Kerr said about his team.

Post continued to supply as a scoring center for the Warriors in the absence of Green. In 20 minutes, he added 13 points and 3 assists, including two threes. On the other hand, Trayce Jackson-Davis’ six minutes came at a pivotal time from when Green went off the floor due to the accumulation of fouls.

As Kerr mentioned, they did what they were supposed to do. Replicating what Draymond Green does wasn’t the aim of bringing them in. Both Post and  Jackson-Davis provided the Warriors with size to battle against the Houston Rockets’ elite rebounders. Them tussling for those short minutes allowed the Warriors to hang on to their rhythm.

The same didn’t happen for the Lakers. Because their starters played every minute of the second half, exhaustion visibly set in. And even their 10-point third-quarter lead melted down quickly, leaving them defenseless. Still, the Warriors’ bout against the Rockets wasn’t over without more drama.

The final quarter still proved to be a survival test on its own. The Rockets kept fighting back with timely buckets. That’s when the injured Jimmy Butler forgot all about his injury. He scored 14 of his 27 in the fourth quarter to allow the Bay to prevail and take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

Now, they sit one game away from wrapping up the series.

The Warriors want Game 5

Although the Warriors hold a dominant advantage going into Game 5, it is only the first round of the postseason. Within these four games, they have seen Jimmy Butler take a major blow, Brandin Podziemski get ill, and some other minor health troubles to their players. Hence, even with three chances to get over the Rockets, they need to do it as soon as possible.

Draymond Green does address that health is a factor. But to him, it isn’t their motivation to close the series out in Houston. He thinks Game 5 will be the toughest game of the series. Houston is a proud team facing elimination. So he is projecting them coming out with full force. But as a team with an enlightening history of playoff success, Green is confident about their chances.

“It’s not the end of the world but when you have an opportunity to close, you want to do that. You know you let the series extend on, injuries happen freak things can happen. You have an opportunity to close you want to do it, and that will be our focus. But it’s not like like we go in there and we’re not able to get the job done we’re pulling our hair out. We just move on to the next one. But we have all the confidence in the world that we can go in and close it out,” Draymond Green said of their vision.

In hindsight, though, closing out the series in Game 5 carries greater significance than just their health. It would give the team more days to rest and recover from any minor scratches. But as a team, the Warriors know the atmosphere is bound to be hostile. Green, Stephen Curry, and Butler have experienced such pressure in the past. But for the young Warriors, this is an opportunity to fight those demons.

A closeout victory on the road would fill the Warriors up with confidence to make a deep playoff run. With them facing either the Wolves or the Lakers, the team requires as much experience as possible. A Game 5 win against the tide of the crowd might just give them a preview of what to expect going forward.