That's the big question entering Saturday night's Game 3 of a first-round series in the 2025 NBA playoffs between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets. The series is tied, 1-1, after the two teams split their games in Houston earlier this week.

SAN FRANCISCO – Facing the league’s most physical and handsy defense without his fearless costar, the Warriors asked the 37-year-old Steph Curry to put the offense on his shoulders in the third game of Golden State’s playoff series with the Rockets.

But Houston cannot afford to let bench players Gary Payton II and Buddy Hield make major impacts. Payton finished with a postseason career-high 16 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter, and Hield was 5-for-11 on 3-point attempts to help finish with 17 points in 29 minutes.