The Golden State Warriors finished the regular season with a 48-24 record, which was enough to land them in the play-in tournament, where they eventually came out as the second seed.
Father Time is catching up to Stephen Curry, so they paired him with Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline in an attempt to bolster Golden State’s lineup.
Both of these guys are known to elevate their game in the playoffs, so when the Warriors battled against the Rockets in Sunday’s game 7 matchup, everyone was prepared for a masterclass.
The Rockets did a great job shutting them both down, limiting Curry to zero points at half and Jimmy to 20 points. What they did not account for was a Buddy Hield 33-point, 9-three-pointer heater.
Hield has not quite found a home yet in the NBA, playing for 5 teams in just 10 years, and was a part of a 6-team trade that sent him to Golden State back in the summer of 2024.
This season, Hield averaged just 11.1 points per game, his lowest since his sophomore year in the NBA. The 2024-2025 season was filled with ups and downs for Hield, and while he played in all 82 games, he started in just 22 of them.
Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
The guard started the year off hot, but was eventually moved to a limited role off the bench.
In game 6, Hield was held scoreless in 17 minutes, but didn’t let it affect him. In the most important game of his life, he stepped up big.
He shot 12-of-15 from the field and 9-of-11 from beyond the arc, leading all scorers with 33 points in 37 minutes.
Hield and the Warriors will take on Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of this year’s NBA playoffs, with Game 1’s tipoff scheduled for Tuesday night.
More NBA: Spurs officially win back-to-back ROTY awards with young new dynamic duo