Stephen Curry and the Warriors are overwhelmed in Houston as James Harden and the Rockets even up the series.
Curry is off considerably, but players not panicking
HOUSTON — Some players have off nights. Some players have off nights that cause their fan base to panic.
Stephen Curry is the latter such player. There are a lot of questions coming out of the Warriors’ wretched Game 2 effort, a loss that abruptly silenced all the loud talk of vastly superior talent and a disappointingly short series. The Rockets won 127-105 by doing what they do best: shooting the lights out. Game 3 will be in Oakland on Sunday.
The question burning up social media was
whether there is something physically wrong with Curry.
“I’m feeling great,” Curry said after his subpar shooting night: 7-of-19 for 16 points and just 1-of-8 from the beyond three-point line.
“Tonight, as a whole, I didn’t find a rhythm early. I had some decent looks from three that could’ve changed the momentum of the game early. It was just a frustrating night all the way around.”
It was for the Warriors, but they still left Houston having accomplished their primary mission: get a split and then come home. But the ugly way that Game 2 unfolded, evoking memories of the sloppy and uninterested Warriors of the regular season, was discouraging.
“They kicked our butts,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “No other way to say it. They just played a lot harder than they did in the first game. They played with more confidence. “
Snarky Kerr emerged when asked how much Curry’s lingering injuries impacted his play. “Uh, 13.7 percent,” Kerr said. “It obviously wasn’t Steph’s best night,” Kerr said. “He’s feeling good. This was his sixth game back. I thought he played a lot better in Game 1 than anyone gave him credit for.”
The analysis of the series has been that the Rockets were going to have to pick their poison: They couldn’t let both Curry and Kevin Durant get going.
Before the game, Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni was asked whether he assumed Curry would be better than he was in Game 1.
“Are you trying to give me the shivers or something?” D’Antoni asked.
He didn’t have to worry Wednesday. No shivers, except from Houston’s air conditioning.
We are so accustomed to Curry lighting up the scoreboard from distance, that the past two games have seemed more troublesome than simply off nights: just one three-pointer in each. It took until the fourth quarter for Curry to hit a three Wednesday. In his 81 playoff games, he has hit a three-pointer in every one but only seven times has he been held to one.
Because he missed almost all of March and the first playoff series with injuries, there has been speculation that he’s hurting. He returned for Game 2 of
the New Orleans series and has had erratic efforts in his six games back.
On Wednesday, he said he felt great. And he looked great in the shooting practice that media was allowed to watch Tuesday, nailing shot after shot in his machine-like, hypnotic routine.
But after Game 1, Curry seemed to leave open the possibility that he was hurt. He was seen stretching in the tunnel during the game. When asked if he tweaked something, he was vague.
“Yeah, but playoffs it doesn’t really matter,” Curry said Monday night. “You’ve got to keep playing. So I’ll be fine. It’s a physical series, and it’s a situation where I’m going to be out there hopefully regardless of what happens.”
Curry was the last one out of the locker room at halftime, walking back onto the court as abuse rained down on him from the emboldened Rockets fans, who called him a choker. Brave souls.
Curry was targeted constantly by the Rockets on isolation plays.
“Surprise, surprise,” he said. He was asked whether working so hard on defense was draining him on the offensive end.
“Not if you are a step ahead of it,” Curry said. “We were trying to be too cute with our exchanges and our switches, instead of just manning up and playing one-on-one defense. They made a concerted effort to turn those one-on-one situations into a little more ball movement, and we were a step slow. “
His teammates aren’t worried. They’re not panicked.
“Not one bit,” said Klay Thompson. Asked what he expects from Curry in Game 3, Thompson said, “Play his butt off and have a huge game. I expect that every night, because he’s that good.”
Curry, the Zen master of the team, was calm.
“There’s no panic, no thehouse-is-on-fire kind of mentality,” he said. “Now we’ve got to go home and recalibrate. Go home and get the momentum back on our side.”
To assure that, Curry needs to be Curry.