Golden State Warriors Brandin Podziemski (2), Jimmy Butler (22), and Stephen Curry (30) watch from the bench in the second half as they lose game 5 of the NBA Playoffs first round to the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center in Houston on Wed Apr 30, 2025 (AP News photo)

NBA Playoffs podcast Michael Roberson:

#1 Golden State Warriors failed on both end of defense and offense on Wednesday and failed in an elimination opportunity to take out the Houston Rockets with a 131-116 loss as the Rockets cut the deficit in a now 3-2 series.

#2 The Warriors got into a jam early in the game as you saw super star players sitting on the Golden State bench, Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler and the remaining Warriors starters as head coach Steve Kerr played the backups in the last five minutes in the third quarter with the Rockets up with a 20 point lead.

#3 Kerr did share in the blame of how the Warriors performed in Houston in game five saying that he did not have them ready to play. That the Warriors got into foul trouble with three fouls in a two minute segment of the game. The Rockets were 13 for 13 from free throw line at the end of the first quarter.

#4 After a very physical game 4 at Golden State and the series moved back to Houston for game 5 how fired up were this Rockets group they just jumped out at the Warriors right from the tip off?

#5 The Rockets head to Golden State for game 6 Fri May 2 for a 6:00pm PDT tip off. The Warriors can put this away with home court advantage and advance to the second round. However if the Rockets come out again keyed up and with another game plan to shut down Golden State’s starting line up it would force a game 7 that would go back to Houston on Sun May 4th.

Michael Roberson is an NBA analyst for http://www.sportsradioservice.com and writes for the African American Athlete.com