San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Rockets’ fast start stops Warriors
Seven-plus weeks earlier, the Warriors christened 2019 with a wild, memorable loss to Houston. James Harden scored 44 points, punctuated by a tightly contested 3-point shot with one second left, to lift the Rockets to an overtime victory Jan. 3.
Harden, the NBA’s leading scorer, didn’t suit up for Saturday’s encore at Oracle Arena — he missed the game because of a strained neck and the flu — but the Warriors couldn’t take advan-
tage. The Rockets seized control early, withstood a predictable comeback and bolted out of the Bay Area with a 118-112 victory.
Eric Gordon scored 25 points, Chris Paul added 23 and Kenneth Faried — who replaced Harden in the starting lineup — had 20. Kevin Durant led the Warriors with 29 and Stephen Curry scored 25. Golden State has lost all three of its games this season against Houston.
The Warriors also lost forward Draymond Green early in the fourth quarter to a sprained left ankle. Green stepped on DeMarcus Cousins’ foot while playing defense, winced in pain and fell to the court right in front of head coach Steve Kerr on the bench.
Green soon hobbled to the locker room and did not return. He was walking without a limp after the game and said he “doesn’t expect to miss much time” because of the injury. There were no plans for Green to have X-rays on the ankle.
Still, he could miss at least one or two games on the team’s East Coast trip, which begins Monday at Charlotte. Kerr said Green told him he “tweaked” the same ankle early in the game.
“He was in good spirits after the game, so I’m assuming it’s not anything serious,” Curry said. “You don’t want anything like that to linger, especially at this point in the season . ... Hopefully, he’s not out for any significant amount of time.” The Warriors seemed done late in the fourth quarter, only to stage one last rally. They cut their deficit to four points on Curry’s free throws with 1:26 left, and again on Klay Thompson’s jumper with 30 seconds remaining, but the Rockets held on.
Saturday’s ragged first half — the Warriors fell behind 15-0 and trailed by as many as 20 points in the second quarter — highlighted a common February theme. Golden State also dug large, early holes Feb. 8 against Phoenix and Feb. 10 against Miami, only to rally and win both games.
The Rockets, clearly, are not the Suns or Heat.
Green said the Warriors had a “horrible practice” Friday, when they watched video of Thursday night’s uneven victory over Sacramento and then held a brief workout.
“We weren’t prepared to play and I’m the coach, so that’s on me,” Kerr said. “I have to do a better job getting these guys ready to play. Coming out of the (All-Star) break, we have not done a good job as a group of being ready to play.”
The Warriors played beyond sluggishly in the first half, on many levels. They shot poorly (30 percent in the first quarter), made little effort to chase down long rebounds or loose balls and repeatedly left Houston players open on the perimeter. Not a good combination. Kerr pointed to defensive transition as his team’s biggest problem Saturday. The Warriors also were careless with the ball (17 turnovers) and, in Kerr’s words, struggled with “forgetting plays” on offense.
That doesn’t really sound like a team with a 42-17 record, best in the West, and 17 wins in 20 games since Harden’s buzzer beater Jan. 3. The Warriors also lost for the first time with their marquee starting lineup of Curry, Thompson, Durant, Green and Cousins (they’re now 10-1).
“We lost the game right there,” Curry said of falling behind 15-0. “... As a whole, our energy and our attention to detail was just bad in those first six minutes. We’ve got some stuff to work on.”
Golden State, which trailed by 20 points midway through the second quarter, surged within seven by halftime and took its first lead barely more than two minutes into the third quarter. The Warriors seemed to have rediscovered their equilibrium — until the Rockets reasserted control down the stretch.
“We just need to come out with a sense of urgency,” Cousins said. “There’s no excuse for us going down 15-0.”