Buddy Hield makes NBA playoff history in wins vs. Rockets, Timberwolves

The Golden State Warriors have won two massive playoff games in a row against the Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves over the last three days, and neither of them was because of Stephen Curry. Buddy Hield, the sharpshooting guard the Warriors brought on last summer to aid Curry, Draymond Green, and Steve Kerr in their pursuit of a fifth NBA Championship, has been huge for Golden State.

Hield has been so good, however, that he actually made NBA history.

Warriors’ Buddy Hield makes NBA history in wins vs. Rockets, Timberwolves

Buddy Hield finished the Warriors’ Game 7 win against the Rockets with a game-high 33 points, three rebounds, three assists, and two blocked on 12-of-15 shooting from the field and an NBA Game 7 record nine three-pointers on 11 attempts.

Then, in Game 1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Hield came through again.

Hield finished the Warriors’ Game 1 win over the Timberwolves with a game-high 24 points, eight rebounds, and three assists on 7-of-19 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 from three.

Over the two-game span for the Warriors, Buddy Hield finished with 57 points on 19-of-34 shooting from the field and 14-of-19 from three.

According to Stathead, Hield is the first player in NBA history to record 14 three-pointers on at least 70 percent shooting from three over a two-game span in the NBA Playoffs.

The only player who comes close is former Warriors guard Klay Thompson, who had 14 threes on 63.6 percent shooting over a two-game span.

Hield’s eruption over the last two games has come at a great time. Stephen Curry struggled to score in the first half of Game 7 against the Rockets, but Buddy hit six threes to keep the Warriors ahead.

And once Curry left Game 1 against the Timberwolves with a hamstring injury, Hield was quick to step up and provide a scoring punch that kept the Wolves at bay all night long.

The performance by Hield prompted a couple of funny responses from both Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler, who Hield has developed a funny postgame routine with.

“I didn’t see what happened, I also didn’t see that he grabbed his hamstring,” Draymond Green said after the win. “I just saw him limping a bit so I walked over to him, telling him to pass it, and he’s kinda walking towards the locker room. I said, ‘you’re good?’ and he was like, ‘I’ll be back.’ He just kept pushing, but we didn’t really know what was going on for a while – several minutes, I mean like game-time minutes which is a lot longer, but we didn’t know for a long time. And then they finally told us it was a hamstring.

“It was a little deflating, but we know he did a great job of helping us build a comfortable enough lead and Robin turned into Batman – what should I call Buddy [Hield]? Alfred turned into Robin. They just filled in and it was beautiful to see.”

Hield and Butler were informed of Green’s comments after the game, and each made sure to express their true feeligns on it.

“I’m Batman today,” Hield joked. “I saved the day. [Jimmy] is still Robin.”

“I’m still Robin, yes,” Butler quipped back. “And Steph is still Batman. And Butter is still who he is. But he had a good game, man. Except for that stupid thing you did at the beginning of the game when you had on the wrong shorts.”

The Warriors are expected to be without Stephen Curry for at least one week, which rules him out of Games 2, 3, and 4 of the series. He’ll be re-evaluated in seven days, but given he’s never suffered a hamstring strain in his career, there’s an expectation that the Warriors will play it safe with their superstar point guard.

Game 2 of Warriors-Timberwolves is back in Minnesota on Thursday night at 5:30PM PST.