This was the game the Rockets needed to win on the road. Jimmy Butler was sitting on the bench in a brown sweat suit, out with a pelvic contusion after his fall in Game 2. The Warriors are not the same team without him.

Coach Steve Kerr isn’t sure how long the Warriors might be without Butler, who has helped the team to a 25-9 record since a February trade from the Heat. He was listed as questionable for Saturday’s Game 3 and then ruled out. An MRI Thursday reveled that he injured his pelvis and has a deep gluteal muscle contusion.

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.