Curry forces Rockets to learn the hard way not to leave him open
OAKLAND, Calif. — He’s the best Warrior and the NBA’s MVP. He has led the league in made 3-pointers three consecutive seasons. He was the hottest player in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals and threatened to rip the roof off a roaring Oracle Arena with every drained 3 Tuesday.
But somehow the Rockets kept losing track of Golden State point guard Stephen Curry. And Kevin McHale’s squad will enter Game 2 again trying to contain the game’s premier shooter while keeping the elusive, speedy Curry on a much tighter leash.
“We made some mistakes,” McHale said. “I mean, some of it was our offensive mistakes, where we turned it over and did some stuff we didn’t get back.”
Curry is the igniter for the Warriors. He scored a game-high 34 points on 13-of-22 shooting, knocking down six of 11 attempts from behind the 3-point line. Every time he touches the ball and eyes the basket, Golden State’s raucous home crowd begins to buzz. When Curry drills a smooth 3, the league’s premier home-court advantage becomes even greater as Oracle’s volume meter is cranked from 10 to 11.
The Rockets knew all that before Game 1, though. Which made the sight of the 6-3, 190-pound Curry left alone and unguarded multiple times along the perimeter downright disturbing. For all of the Rockets’ defensive progress this season, the team was blown out three times in the West semifinals by the 3-point-heavy Los Angeles Clippers. Tuesday, the Rockets were often defenseless against Golden State’s up-tempo, shoot-itif-you’re-open offense.
On a playoff roll
Giving up 42 combined points to Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green is allowable. Allowing Curry to have uncontested 3-point looks, on which he’s able to set his feet, establish his range and comfortably lock in on his target, is unthinkable.
“In the (fast) break, you’ve got to recognize where he is at, and you’ve got to get to him,” McHale said. “I thought we made three mistakes on Curry on just transition where he got open baskets, and we’ve just got to be better on that.”
As good as Curry was during the regular season, he has been even sharper during the playoffs. He torched New Orleans in the first round, scoring at least 34 points in three of the four games. He hit 32 twice against Memphis in the West semis. But Curry’s 59.1 percent accuracy from the field Tuesday was his best of the postseason, while his 13 made field goals tied his playoff high this year.
“It’s a fast game, and the game is chaotic,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “A lot of people are going to be open. … The nature of the game is there are going to be open looks, and Steph was working hard, moving without the ball, got himself free and made the play.”
The Rockets didn’t just lose sight of Curry on the perimeter. While keeping eyes on the rest of Golden State’s offensive assets, McHale’s defense allowed Curry to roam free in the paint. An unguarded layup late in the fourth quarter exemplified the Rockets’ defensive lapses, and Curry twice entered the interior and exited with a basket after the Rockets tied the contest at 97.
Open looks a lost cause
Even Curry was surprised he was allowed to see the basket so clearly and up close in Game 1.
“I kind of shoot it real quick because I expect somebody to be right on my tail trying to get a block,” he said. “But when you see two guys closing out to Draymond and Klay is in the corner and nobody can leave him in that situation, you obviously know you’re wide open and can make a play.”
The Rockets can tighten their perimeter, dedicate more attention to Curry, and collapse their defense in Game 2. They can muscle up against him and foul hard when he penetrates the lane. But if the Warriors fly out of Oakland with a 2-0 advantage and Curry continues his playoff fire, the Rockets’ best response could be the worst possible position for a defense to be in against a great shooter: waiting and hoping for a miss.
“We got plenty of open shots (Tuesday) night,” Curry said, “and that’s a combination of making hard cuts, setting great screens, being patient, making the next pass, and just making the defense react instead of them being able to lock in.”