Coach Steve Kerr likes the position the Warriors are in – healthy and in possession of home-court advantage throughout the playoffs – but he still confessed to some level of anxiety as his team prepared to meet the Houston Rockets in Game 1.
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Curry had to go back to the locker room earlier in Saturday’s contest after tweaking his right ankle, and although he was able to start the second half, he has since exited the contest to get more treatment. He promptly checked out of the game and was examined.
The Houston Rockets got into the playoffs by the skin of their collective teeth.
James Harden scored 17 points and didn’t have a free throw attempt for cold-shooting Houston, held to six field goals in the first quarter of the rematch from last year’s Western Conference finals, won by Golden State in five.
After the game, Kerr said that he would not have put Curry back in the game, even if the Rockets had significantly cut into Golden State’s lead. “I just can’t think of a scenario in professional basketball, at least one that I’ve lived through, in which a team that is this dominant and this complete on both ends of the floor doesn’t end up doing what it has set out to do”, NBATV analyst Brent Barry said this week. Donatas Motiejunas had to be separated from Green, who was called for a personal foul and technical foul for a takedown in the post.
That’s not exactly a revolutionary prediction, of course, with the Warriors going into this series as overwhelming favorites not only in this series, but to get through many more rounds in this postseason, to defend last season’s championship.
However, Curry remains hopeful he will be available and said he knew how much pain he was capable of playing through.
Aggression from a known defensive pest in Beverley was essentially waving Rockets red in front of a raging bull.
The Warriors were ahead 60-33 at intermission, with the 27-point lead being the franchise’s largest halftime lead in a shot-clock era playoff game. “I thought our defense was excellent”.
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“We’ve played many games like this; so have they”, center Andrew Bogut said afterwards. So you’ve got to expect that to be a little different come Game 2. “Obviously we’re hoping that we’re going to be in the playoffs for the next couple of months”.
