Warriors continue to thrive in a third world of their own
It took the Houston Rockets 24 strong minutes in Game 7 to build a double-digit lead. All their energy went into the first half Monday night, diving for every loose ball, fighting for every rebound, grinding for every point.
It was an exhausting style of basketball, but it was what Houston had to do with the season on the line.
But the Rockets knew what the Golden State Warriors knew — that 11-point leads against the Warriors were like five-point leads against the rest of the league.
The Rockets had to keep going. They had to keep winning every rebound, every loose ball. And in the opening possessions of the third quarter, Houston experienced what so many teams have felt. As the Rockets’ legs got heavier, the Warriors blitzed into control.
Golden State outscored Houston by 18 during the third quarter in a 101-92 series-ending win in Houston — the sixth time in the series the Warriors outperformed the Rockets right after halftime.
“This is what happens in Game 7s. Everybody’s scattered. Last night’s Game 7 in Boston, same thing,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Shots are harder to make, tougher to execute. Defenses have the edge over offenses because everybody’s tense.
“But, we just lost our composure in that first half, and the main message in the locker room was we’re down 11. That’s about two minutes for us if we execute.”
It took longer to undo the first-half damage — the Warriors tied it with 4:29 left in the third. But after that, the Warriors served the kind of damage that they’ve unloaded on the NBA all season.
In the next 66 seconds, the Warriors scored eight points — all from Stephen Curry — while Houston stayed cold. The stretch effectively won the game, with Houston never able to get closer than six points the rest of the way.
“Our talent took over,” Kerr said. It wasn’t the first time. The Warriors dominated teams in the third quarter for the last two seasons. In 2016-17, the Warriors were 22.8 points per 100 possessions better than their opponents in the third quarter, by far the best in the NBA. This year in the regular season, they were 18.5 points per 100 possessions better than teams in the third.
But in these playoffs, Golden State has been at another level. The Warriors have been 33.1 points per 100 possessions better than whoever was unlucky enough to step out of the other locker room at halftime.
Three times against the Rockets, Golden State outscored Houston by at least 17 points in the third quarter.
“These guys, you think you’ve got them or you think you’re guarding them OK, and it’s just, if you just take a deep breath one time, it’s a three,” Houston coach Mike D’Antoni said. “That’s why they’re so good.”
It’s a mental stress that no one else in the NBA is capable of — the knowledge that whatever happens in the first half probably will be undone by Curry, Kevin Durant or Klay Thompson.
Curry and Durant combined to average 20.5 points in the third quarter against the Rockets. Houston averaged just 21.9 points in the third for the series.
“I mean, obviously I’ve been playing well in the third quarter this series,” Curry said. “It’s a point where, like I always say, ‘It’s a full 48-minute game.’ You have to have endurance, you’ve got to have resiliency, you’ve got to have confidence in yourself, no matter how the game’s going up until that point, that you can turn it around.
“It's been great to come out of the locker room kind of focused, locked in, made some shots, get some stops, and just have fun. Obviously, thankfully tonight with the way the first half went, it was like clockwork.”