Curry vs. Paul: Western Conference finals are the matchup we’ve waited for
Here we are. The series we’ve been waiting for since the very first game of the NBA season, when the Houston Rockets beat the Warriors in the opener.
Ever since the Rockets, who jumped out to a 25-4 start, grabbed the top spot in the Western Conference and then held on to it from the All-Star break to the end, consigning the Warriors to the second seed for the first time in four years.
Ever since the Rockets won the three-game season series against Golden State, way back in January.
We’ve been waiting for it. And now we’ve got it. Both teams closed out their second-round series on Tuesday night. Game 1 will be Monday night in Houston.
The Warriors won the game by putting down their customary third-quarter hammer, led by Stephen Curry, who scored 13 points in a little over eight minutes. He finished with 28 points.
Remember when we were afraid Curry wouldn’t be able to make a difference in these
playoffs?
“I feel like the conditioning is absolutely coming,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “I feel like he’s back.”
Curry looks like he’s back. On Tuesday night he was brilliant, draining threes, moving without the ball, finding his teammates. And waving his arms to get the crowd going. Like the crowd needed it.
“I was just out there playing basketball, having fun,” Curry said. “The last four games have been solid. I’m just appreciative of being out there playing.”
With under four minutes to play in the third quarter and the Warriors blowing open the game, Kerr took Curry out. Curry didn’t want to go and put up a bit of an argument, as expected. Before the game, Kerr talked about the difficulty of taking him out, as in Game 4, when Kerr had Quinn Cook up.
“And Steph gave me this look,” Kerr said. “So I called Quinn back. Let’s not make Steph mad.”
Curry couldn’t be too mad on Tuesday. He was back in the game in the fourth quarter and ended up playing 37 minutes.
Kerr has had to find the right balance in these past three games, knowing how many minutes to play Curry and how much to rest him. After a stellar return in Game 2, Curry looked tired in Game 3, and Kerr noted that the second game back from a long layoff is always the hardest. It certainly looked that way.
But in Game 4, Curry was good. Kerr felt that he had a physical breakthrough. And then Game 5: Oh, hello, old friend.
“Tonight, (Kerr) really just let him go,” Warriors forward Kevin Durant said. “When you let the dog off the leash you see what happens.”
Now Curry has five days to rest before meeting Houston. And facing his old nemesis Chris Paul.
Paul basically willed the Rockets into the Western Conference finals — where he has never been — with a 41-point, 10-assist performance. The Rockets are for real, though the Warriors might need a reminder. The teams last played on Jan. 20 at Oracle.
“It’s a weird deal because we haven’t played them in so long,” Kerr said. “We’re going to need some contributions from our bench, need to find some minutes; everybody has to stay ready.”
Paul once thought his Clippers were ahead of Curry’s Warriors in 2014, when Los Angeles eliminated the Bay Area team in seven games, only to find out he wasn’t ahead at all. The Warriors have won two championships since and have become the league’s gold standard, while the Clippers fell apart. One of the most symbolic moments in that shift in fortunes came in 2015, when Curry broke Paul’s ankles with his dribbling and then broke the Internet with the replay.
Now Paul has his chance for redemption with Houston. You think he might be fired up? Just a little bit?
There was a time when Paul and Curry were on the same fame plain. Remember that State Farm commercial four years ago? Paul was the established client and the company let that young Curry kid into one of the spots.
Curry quickly eclipsed Paul, with his endorsements and three-pointers and rings and his joy.
On Tuesday night, at the end of the third quarter, Curry leaped off the bench to raise his hands to the crowd and run on the court to celebrate with his team.
He’s healthy and he’s happy. And here’s Houston. Just like we’ve been expecting for seven months.