With 3-4 road playoff mark, Warriors face first true test
CLEVELAND — They authored their greatest achievement of these 2016 playoffs on the road, emerging from crazy-loud Oklahoma City with an epic, season-saving victory. They also buried the Rockets on the road (without Stephen Curry) and outlasted Portland on the road (because of Curry).
But the Golden State Warriors, for all their wondrous feats, often seem
vulnerable away from Oracle Arena, at least in the postseason. They lost by 12 points in Portland, then by 28 and 24 in OKC. They are 11-1 at home in the playoffs but only 3-4 on the road.
Those numbers were presented to center Andrew Bogut on Tuesday, as he fielded questions on the court at Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bogut was surprised to learn the Warriors possess a losing record on the road in the playoffs.
“Three and four? Really?” he said.
Told this was true, he replied, “That’s not good.”
This uneven recent history merits mention as the NBA Finals resume in Cleveland with Game 3 on Wednesday night. The Warriors looked untouch-
able in building their 2-0 series lead, winning those games by a combined 48 points in Oakland.
Still, momentum can change abruptly in the postseason. The Warriors know, because they bounced back from their lopsided losses to eliminate the Thunder. Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue mentioned Golden State’s comeback to his players the past few days, hoping they will find inspiration and spring to life in the Finals.
The Cavs cling to hope in these numbers: They’re 7-0 at home in this year’s playoffs. They won the seven games by an average of nearly 21 points, though the Warriors are a whole lot better than Detroit, Atlanta and Toronto.
Game 3s a problem
Even so, the Warriors occasionally don’t play like the Warriors on the road. They stop moving the ball on offense, relax on de- fense and suddenly find themselves trying to claw their way out of an early hole.
Forward Draymond Green takes this personally.
“It’s on me to make sure guys are ready to play,” Green said. “Make sure guys come out with a lot of energy and ready to fly around. The margin of error is a lot slimmer on the road. …
“You come into a home game and maybe you’re not ready to play from the jump or you don’t have that energy level; it’s a lot easier to battle back than it is on the road. On the road, it’s almost impossible.”
The Warriors will try to conquer another historical nuisance Wednesday night: their Game 3 drought. They’ve lost four consecutive Game 3s, all on the road, dating to last year’s Finals against the Cavs.
Coach Steve Kerr was reluctant to identify a common thread in those losses, though he acknowledged the Warriors might have “let their guard down” when they were on top 2-0 in previous series (against the Rockets and Trail Blazers).
Guards yet to erupt
Now they’re up 2-0 again, amid widespread media reviews all but declaring the Cavs dead.
“I think obviously it’s easy to feel good about ourselves right now,” guard Klay Thompson said. “We’ve protected home court and won by a big margin, but we haven’t played an away game yet. … We expect the Cavs to come out with great desperation and hunger, and we’ve got to match that.”
Cleveland clearly needs to crank up its moribund offense. The Warriors played smothering defense in games 1 and 2, holding the Cavs to an average of 83 points. They scored 104.3 per game during the regular season.
Another disconcerting thought for James and Co. is the quiet performances by Curry and Thompson in the first two games. Curry is averaging 14.5 points in the series, with Thompson at 13.0. That probably won’t last.
But first the Warriors need to find their mojo in a hostile environment. They won twice at Quicken Loans Arena in last year’s Finals, and they won Game 6 in Oklahoma City on May 28, dodging elimination by wiping out an eight-point, fourth-quarter deficit.
So they’re more than capable. They also don’t figure to coast past the Cavs as merrily as they did in Oakland.
“Road games are tough, period,” Bogut said. “And then in a playoff series it goes up a notch. Teams don’t want to lose at home, whether they’re down 2-0 or 3-0 or whatever.”