The Golden State Warriors potential upset of the Rockets looked fragile after Jimmy Butler fell hard and left Game 2 with a bruised pelvis. Houston won and evened the series and it wasn't clear how long Butler would be out, or how effective he'd be when he was able to return.
Steph Curry stepped up in a big way to steal another win in Game 3, finishing with 36 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds. Butler was back in Game 4 and finished with an uber-efficient 27 points on just 12 shots. But it took him a while to get going and, once again, his teammates picked him up.
Brandin Podziemski, who took more shots than anyone else on the Warriors in Game 4, finished with 26 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals and a block, shooting 9-of-18 from the field and 6-of-11 from beyond the arc. Eleven of his 26 points came in the third quarter as the Warriors turned a seven-point deficit into a two-point lead.
He relinquished the scoring duties to Butler down the stretch but Podziemski continued to make big plays, including a key block on Fred VanVleet, with just over two minutes remaining, that turned into a Butler fastbreak layup at the other end.
Podziemski was as key to this win as stars like Butler and Curry, but he almost wasn't on the roster this season.
The Warriors may have come close to trading Brandin Podziemski more than once
Coming into this season, the Warriors were heavily linked in trade rumors with Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz. The deal ultimately fell apart, and we don't know everything that was on the table, but the Warriors hesitancy to include Podziemski was reportedly a sticking point.
The decision to prioritize Podz didn't look great early in the season. He got off to a very slow start, shooting 40.4 percent from the field and 29.5 percent from beyond the arc through the end of December. He missed 12 games with an abdominal strain and began to bounce back almost immediately.
From Jan. 23 to the end of the season, he averaged 14.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game, shooting 40.4 percent from beyond the arc and flashing the heady, two versatility that made him so impressive as a rookie. But in the middle of that run, he dodged another potential trade as the Warriors flirted with Kevin Durant at the trade deadline.
Durant ultimately decided that he didn't want to go back to the Warriors, and it's not clear what the exact dimensions of the hypothetical deal would have been. But there's a good chance Podz would have been included.
The Warriors landed Jimmy Butler instead, made a dramatic turnaround and now seem poised to pull off the first-round upset of the Rockets. That's one completed trade that worked in their favor, and two that weren't that have been just as important.