HOUSTON — Poker pro Doyle Brunson has a quote that neatly summarizes the game he devoted his life to: “The key to No-Limit is to put a man to a decision for all his chips.”



Not every playoff series has this character, but this one could. The Rockets, through their intelligent switching, aggressive ball denials and overplays, have put the Warriors to an uncomfortable decision: Do you stick with what’s worked, or gamble on a different strategy?



There’s a strong case for the latter, specifically for the Warriors playing a bit more like the drag-out Rockets. It might make sense to just drop all pretenses, and repeatedly force James Harden to switch onto Kevin Durant early in the shot clock. This isn’t the Warriors at their most aesthetically pleasing, but it would likely be better than a team that attempts to run beautiful offense, only to get thwarted into isolating anyway, later in the clock, as often happened in Tuesday’s...