Effort: The Warriors are outhustling the Rockets.

Warriors general manager Bob Myers is a big believer that effort is a skill, the same as court vision and footwork.

His goal has long been to build not just the most loaded roster, but also the one most willing to exert energy. In trying to become an NBA dynasty, Golden State made a habit of hustle plays, the brickwall screens, deflections and charges that don’t show up in traditional box scores.

As the grind of maintaining greatness took its toll, the Warriors had a tougher time getting their effort to match their talent. But two games into its second-round matchup with the Rockets, Golden State has showed that, to ratchet up its intensity, all it needed was a worthy opponent.

In seizing a 2-0 series lead, the Warriors outhustled a team that spent much of the past year professing how much it wanted to turn the tables on the Warriors after a Game 7 loss to Golden State in the 2018 Western Conference finals. The Warriors have corralled twice as many offensive rebounds (26) as Houston (13) and attempted 15 more shots.

“Obviously, we see we’ve got to be better on the glass, take better care of the ball,” Houston guard Chris Paul said. “That’s something we did well most of the season, and we haven’t done well in the first two games.”

The Rockets averaged 113.9 points per game in the regular season, but they have totaled 209 points in the past two games. Their offensive rating of 108.3 in this series would have ranked ninth-worst in the NBA in the regular season.

Thanks to their defensive effort, the Warriors have overcome some shortcomings on offense. Stephen Curry, whose penchant for reach-ins continues to get him into foul trouble, is a combined 6-for-23 from beyond the arc in the series. Although Klay Thompson hasn’t been bad offensively, he has yet to deliver one of his signature scoring binges.

Kevin Durant’s series shooting percentage of 42.5 is almost seven points below his career clip. With the Rockets intent to chase them off the perimeter, the Warriors have settled for more mid-range shots, hitting only a combined 18 3pointers through two games — quite the dropoff for a team that averaged 13.3 in the regular season.

“I thought we played really hard right from the beginning,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said after Tuesday’s 115109 win over Houston in Game 2. “We forced a lot of turnovers, got to the loose balls, got some rebounds. “Even though the 3s weren’t going, we were playing well. We were making strides, putting a lot of pressure on them.”

Two months after Myers was promoted to GM, he took Draymond Green — a tweener from Michigan State — with the No. 35 pick of the 2012 NBA draft. What stood out to Myers was Green’s motor. Even in garbage time, he dived for loose balls and attacked the offensive glass.

Green’s effort helped the Warriors establish a workmanlike ethos to complement their revolutionary shooting range. Between 2015 and 2017, Golden State regularly ranked at or near the top of NBA.com’s “hustle” stats: deflections, loose balls, contested shots, screen assists.

But over the past two years, as the novelty of playing deep into June dissipated, the Warriors stopped approaching regular-season games with playoff-level urgency. To consistently box out opponents and sprint back in transition, Golden State needed stakes. And this time, it needed more than just the start of the playoffs to put its effort in overdrive.

The Warriors struggled to focus at times against the Clippers, fumbling away leads — including a 31-point, third-quarter cushion in Game 2 — to let the series drag to six games. But when facing the Rockets, the Warriors have had little trouble focusing.

Even with team-wide effort and a combined 64 points from Durant, the Warriors beat the Rockets by only four and six points, respectively, in Games 1 and 2.

“It’s all about our hustle game and getting to loose balls, and being there for each other on the drives,” Durant said. “Just playing hard every possession. I think if we continue to do that, and have that approach every night, we’ll be in solid shape.”