Warriors in trouble?
Rockets pushing them hard in Western finals
OAKLAND – Score one for competitive balance in the NBA, and credit the Rockets with the assist.
All that whining about how Golden State ruined basketball by landing Kevin Durant in free agency two summers ago, about how Commissioner Adam Silver might as well pre-schedule the shipment of the Larry O’Brien Trophy to the Warriors offices every June, and here they are stuck in a slugfest with the one team willing and able to rise to this challenge.
No matter what happens next in a Western Conference finals series tied
2-2 after Houston’s 95-92 win in Game
4, we know this much: For the first time since Durant came to town, the Warriors are in real trouble.
Before this series, the Warriors had gone a combined 24-3 in the playoffs while never losing more than one game in any of the six series. And with Game 5 in Houston looming so large on Thursday, the Warriors who were here before Durant will have to remember how to get through these tough times.
There was a 2-1 second-round deficit against Memphis in 2015 that they overcame, then a 2-1 Cleveland hill to climb in those Finals that led to Golden State’s first title of this era.
There was a 3-1 deficit to Durant’s Thunder in the 2016 Western finals, an incredible comeback that is so often forgotten because of the debacle that happened next. Cavs down 3-1 in the Finals, and you know the rest.
Take a bow, Rockets general manager Daryl Morey and coach Mike D’Antoni. When it comes to the debate about the league’s lack of parity, pushing the defending champs into a virtual threegame series with two games at home counts as major progress.
Their offseason additions were made with the Warriors in mind, from superstar Chris Paul to forward P.J. Tucker and even the midseason pickup of journeyman Gerald Green. Morey has vowed to make the most of Harden’s prime, but he learned the hard way in the five-game conference finals three years ago that even the pre-Durant Warriors were too much for one star to handle alone.
So Paul, who fought through foot trouble to score 27 points Tuesday, came to town as a fellow alpha male who could impact their culture. His competitiveness is contagious, and Paul’s beginning-to-end preaching about defense set the necessary tone. All of it — the jump in defensive rating from 18th last season to sixth, the skull sessions with lead defensive assistant Jeff Bzdelik — was for nights like this.
The rim shrunk for the Warriors in their 12-point fourth quarter, when their
10-point lead disappeared and 15 of their
18 attempts misfired (including a combined 2-for-13 shooting by Steph Curry and Kevin Durant). It was exactly what Morey dreamed of when he pondered ways to deal with Golden State’s superstar roster, not only with all the length and versatility but also the fire in the belly on both ends of the floor.
Paul surely beamed during Harden’s surreal second-quarter stretch, when he picked Kevin Durant’s pocket on back-to-back possessions as Houston grabbed a lead. His posterizing dunk on Draymond Green in the second quarter was viral within minutes, but it’s the game-high seven deflections on defense the Rockets coaching staff will likely praise as they prepare for Game 5.
Considering the Rockets were two days removed from an embarrassing 41point loss in Game 3, it took a great deal of collective belief to not wave the white flag after what happened in the first and third quarters of Game 4. Then again, refusing to yield has long since become the theme of their season.
The Warriors jumped out to a 12-0 lead at the start of the game while Houston missed its first eight shots, yet a stellar second quarter kept Houston close. Curry carried the Warriors during their latest trademark third quarter after the break, but the Rockets dominat- ed down the stretch.
“We’ve been doing it all year long,” said Harden, who had 24 of his 30 points in the first half. “That’s the main reason we’re in this position we’re in today. That third game was just one loss.”
It was as gritty a win as you’ll find and a clear sign that Golden State’s wouldbe dynasty is in peril.
“It’s all about toughness right now,” D’Antoni said. “There was great basketball played on both sides, stretches of it, the rest of it is just gutting it out and finding a will, a way and a want.
“They believe in each other. They can get on each other and push each other and do all the right things, and (it’s) all from the right spot. Everybody just win, no matter what.”