No 3’s the charm
Golden State’s perimeter defense stifles Houston’s long-range marksmen
Rockets guard James Harden is bottled up by Warriors’ center Zaza Pachulia (right) and guard Klay Thompson.
HOUSTON — Seven years ago, after a group of venture capitalists bought the Warriors, the franchise adopted a peculiar philosophy: Three-point shooting could be foundational to a championship team.
Not just hitting three-pointers, but also preventing them. In Friday night’s 125-108 rout of the Rockets, a team on pace to break Golden State’s record for treys in a season, Golden State reinforced the importance of stingy perimeter defense.
Seven weeks after hitting 14 three-pointers in a double-overtime win over the Warriors, Houston finished just 7-of-35 (20 percent) from beyond the arc. Its trio of long-range marksmen — James Harden, Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson — combined to miss all 13 of their three-point attempts.
Friday was the second-worst showing from deep
this season for a team that has used potent three-point shooting to make a surprising run at a top-three playoff seed. In the third quarter, with the Rockets going 0-of-10 from three-point range, Golden State turned a five-point halftime lead into a 20-point cushion.
“We have to defend like that,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “That’s what we have to hang our hat on. Because if we can get stops, then we can get out and run. We’re pretty tough to stop in transition.”
Harden, the front-runner for MVP, was left wrestling with an uncharacteristic stat line: 17 points and seven turnovers. Without finding a groove behind the arc, Houston couldn’t keep pace with the league’s most explosive attack.
It was a formula Warriors fans have come to know well: Kevin Durant (32 points on 19 shots, seven assists) and Stephen Curry (24 points, seven assists) capitalized on open looks. Draymond Green (15 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, three blocks) was at his do-everything best.
With his backup, David West, sidelined by a thumb injury, Zaza Pachulia battled through foul trouble to record 10 points, nine rebounds and two steals in 20 minutes. In the third quarter, while consistently nagging Houston’s shooters, Golden State outscored the Rockets 37-22.
“They are a rhythm team,” Green said. “If you let them get into their rhythm, knocking threes down, then it will be a long night. It was important we didn’t let them do that.”
Solid perimeter defense, though not as attention-grabbing as three-pointers, has been at the root of the Warriors’ success. Golden State finished among the top five in the league the previous three seasons in lowest opponent three-point shooting percentage. Entering Friday, it was No. 1 in the NBA with an opponent three-point shooting percentage of 32.1 — nearly two full percentage points bettter than No. 2 Memphis.
Against the Rockets, the Warriors’ game plan was simple: run shooters off the perimeter and get hands in their faces. Houston’s 667 threepointers through its first 45 games were the most ever by a team at that point of a season. In their Dec. 16 win over New Orleans, the Rockets hoisted a mind-boggling 61 shots from beyond the arc.
“We were just hesitating on everything tonight,” Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni said. “They’re really good, so they take advantage of everything.”
Barely more than halfway into the season, Golden State is looking like the dominant team many had expected. It is riding a six-game winning streak. In a five-day span ending Friday, the Warriors beat three of the NBA’s better teams — Cleveland, Oklahoma City and Houston — by a combined 73 points.
Those three teams shot a combined 24.7 percent (24of-97) from three-point range against Golden State.
“If we show up and do what we did tonight,” Curry said, “we’re going to win a lot of games.”