Win streak hits 10 since some badly needed rest
Three weeks ago, after the Warriors staggered to the finish of their eight-city, 13-day tour of America, head coach Steve Kerr explained why he rested four top players for the final stop on the odyssey, the oft-debated surrender at the Alamo.
“Our team,” Kerr said on March 11, “has been through the wringer the last couple weeks.”
That much-discussed rest evidently had its desired effect: The Warriors have since put their opponents through the wringer the past couple weeks.
On Friday, the Warriors extended their post-rest winning streak to 10 with a 107-98 victory over the Rockets at Oracle Arena. During their streak, they have battered opponents by an average of 15.2 points and sported a 3-0 record against the Spurs and Rockets, two of their biggest
roadblocks to winning their third straight Western Conference title.
In the process, they’ve silenced the sky-is-falling crowd that posited the top-heavy team couldn’t hang without injured Kevin Durant, who has been sidelined since Feb. 28.
Kerr took some heat for resting Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala in a 10785 loss at San Antonio. It was Golden State’s third straight defeat and their fifth in seven games. So should Kerr now take a bow? On Friday, he was asked about the theory that his take-a-seat maneuver has fueled the current streak.
“I’ll let you hypothesize on that,” Kerr said. “But we needed the rest. And it helped. I don’t know how much, but it helped.”
On Friday, two days after erasing a 22-point deficit to win in San Antonio, they erased a 13-point, secondquarter hole to beat the Rockets (51-24), who have the third best record in the Western Conference.
Golden State (62-14) has a 3½-game lead on the Spurs for the top seed in the Western Conference.
The latest victory was headlined by the usual suspects: Curry (24 points) and Thompson (20) combined to make 8 of 18 three-pointers. But the defensive performance also deserves notice on a night when Golden State had 10 steals and 14 blocks, including a season-high five swats from center Javale McGee (13 points).
Iguodala (14 points, five rebounds, five assists) and Draymond Green continued to frustrate MVP candidate James Harden, whose shooting woes help explain his team’s 1-3 record against the Warriors this season.
On Friday, Harden went 4-for-17 from the field and made 2 of 8 three-pointers. This season, Harden shot 31.1 percent from the field (23for-74) and made 5 of 34 three-pointers against Golden State.
In the third quarter, Harden may have finally had enough. Green claimed Harden pinched him in his side, and he swatted his wrist away in response.
(Harden) “pinched me, so I punched his wrist,” Green said. “That’s pretty much it. … He does it often, actually, which is kind of adolescent, but whatever.”
Is it common for NBA players to pinch? “No,” Green said. “Guys aren’t going around pinching people.”
Harden hasn’t been alone. The Rockets have established the record for the most threepointers made and attempted in a season, but they made just 38 of 147 three-pointers (25.9 percent) against the Warriors.
Kerr noted that Green didn’t let his offensive struggles affect his defensive intensity Friday. Green (six points) made just 2 of 11 shots, but he had six rebounds, three blocks and a game-best plus-minus (plus-15).
“I always make it a point to try to contribute on defense,” Green said. “I think that’s always important. That’s who I am. I never get it confused, like, ‘Man, I’m having a great offensive night so I can just relax on the defensive end.’ I think a lot of times guys forget who they are, and that’s where it all goes wrong.”
The Warriors have clearly rediscovered a familiar groove.
Since Sunday, they’ve gone 4-0 against playoff teams in San Antonio, Houston and Memphis, winning by an average of 10 points.
“I kind of feel like these last four games have all had playoff intensity,” Curry said. “And we’ve come out on top in all of them.”