Little-known Warriors supporting cast member Buddy Hield improbably bloomed into the team’s top scorer, for one night at least, giving Golden State a comfortable Game 7 win that sends them surging into the second round of the NBA playoffs.

Things looked bad for your Golden State Warriors after their lackluster playoff loss to the Houston Rockets Friday night, forcing them into Sunday’s do-or-die Game 7, and bringing bank nightmares of a certain blown 3-1 series lead in 2016. And Steph Curry came out ice cold Sunday night, as the Bay Area News Group points out, Curry went completely scoreless in the whole first half until finally hitting one shot in the final minute before halftime.  

Yet here we are toasting a victory and a berth into the Western Conference Semifinals after what was still a 103-89 Game 7 win over the favored Houston Rockets, thanks to an out-of-the-blue blockbuster 33-point performance from the Warriors’ relatively obscure forward Buddy Hield.

The Chronicle anoints Hield “Game 7 Buddy,” a nod to the old Game 6 Klay of Warriors lore. You can see all nine of Hield’s three-pointers in the supermix above, including his desperation 42-foot longshot at the very end of the first quarter, which put the Warriors up 12 points, and just made you feel like this was definitely the Dubs’ night.

Hield was completely scoreless in Friday night’s drubbing, so we probably should not expect this out of him every night. But as the Warriors note below, Hield’s nine three-pointers tied the all-time record for a Game 7.

“I never wavered on starting Buddy,” coach Steve Kerr said in the Chronicle’s Scott Ostler writeup. “The lineup we started tonight has been by far our best five-man unit in this series, so I knew I was going to stay with Buddy.”

There was speculation that Kerr would start Jonathan Kuminga instead, but it seems coach made the right call with Hield. Kuminga played seven minutes Sunday night, and did not score a point.

You knew Curry would explode after his less-than-lackluster first half, and he did, eventually ringing up 22 points. And though the Rockets trimmed the lead to 63-60 in the third quarter, the Warriors dominated the fourth. Curry eventually settled matters with his own dagger three-pointer with just under three minutes to play, though it was one of Hield’s three-pointers a moment later that prompted Curry to bust out his “night-night” gesture to declare the game, and the series, as a resounding Warriors victory.

So now it is on to the Western Conference Semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who will have home court advantage. That means Tuesday’s Game 1 and Thursday’s Game 2 will both be in Minnesota. Though as NBC Bay Area reminds us, road playoff games mean there will be free watch parties outside the Chase Center both of those evenings, and certainly fans who went Sunday night were richly rewarded for doing so.

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Image: HOUSTON, TEXAS - MAY 04: Buddy Hield #7 of the Golden State Warriors reacts against the Houston Rockets after making a three-point basket during the fourth quarter in Game Seven of the Western Conference First Round NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center on May 04, 2025 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)