On verge of NBA Finals, Warriors still think they can be better
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HOUSTON — Hours before the Houston Rockets faced unofficial elimination against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night, resident wise man Jason Terry bound through one of the Toyota Center tunnels after the team's shoot-around and shared his perspective on that night's affair.
"This is our Game 7!" he yelled to a nearby Rockets staff member.
The problem, as it turned out, is that they played as if it was Oct. 7.
The Rockets, who were well aware that no team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a seven-game series, gave the kind of effort and execution that was worthy of a preseason outing in their 115-80 loss to the Warriors in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals. And now, with Game 4 in Houston on Monday and the prospect of Golden State's trip to the Finals seemingly a matter of when rather than if, the time seems right to re-assess this Golden State group and ask the only question that matters.
Can they win it all?
Of course they can. How they can do it is another question entirely. And yes, for those who merely watched the highlights of this one, there was much more to this runaway win than the latest spectacular showing from MVP Stephen Curry (40 points on 12-of-19 shooting overall, 7-of-9 from three-point range).
Can the Warriors win it all when they live and die by the three-pointer?
Well here's the thing about the widely-believed narrative: It's simply not true. Take the first half, for example, when they hit just four three-pointers but got out to a 62-37 lead by leaning on the kinds of principles that many casual fans still don't realize they possess: The defense that was the top-ranked unit in the NBA in the regular season (the Rockets shot just 29.3% in the first half and 33.7% for the game) and a penetration attack that was tied with the Rockets for second during that time (32 of their 58 points in the paint came in the first half). The Warriors' offense was as clean as it's ever been, too, with 15 of their 26 assists in the half to go with one turnover.
"I think what a lot of people may not understand is that our offense tonight was integral to our defensive success — integral," Warriors assistant coach and defensive guru Ron Adams told Paste BN Sports. "When we produce low turnovers in a game, and we're ready defensively, then we become a pretty special team."
The Warriors' defensive versatility on the wings just isn't fair sometimes, and it finally benefited them against Harden in Game 3. Klay Thompson tried and mostly failed to contain Harden in the first two games, when the Warriors' attempts to force him off the three-point line only led to the kind of efficient mid-range game that no one saw coming. Harden averaged 33 points (57.1% shooting), 10.5 rebounds and 9.0 assists in those first two games.
So Warriors' coach Steve Kerr and Adams decided to give Harden a different look. Harrison Barnes spent some time on Harden, then Andre Iguodala and Thompson, and all of a sudden the Rockets' masterful man finally came back down to earth. Harden missed 13 of his 16 shots, finishing with 17 points, three rebounds and four assists.
Adams, as it so happens, was an Oklahoma City assistant coach when Harden was finding his way with the Thunder. The two remain close, with Harden calling Adams a "friend" at Saturday morning's shoot-around.
"I thought Harrison did a really good job (on Harden) early," Adams said. "A different body, a different defensive presence (than Thompson). And then I thought we closed space behind him on some of the high picks we saw. But again, in being fair to James and their team, we played pretty much error-less ball.
"We didn't shoot it great, but it allowed us to defend. We had the lead. The lead is important. That allowed us to do things, to gain confidence, to put pressure on their shooters. So a lot of good things. And everyone who guarded him did well, but this team has a lot of pride defensively. They weren't particularly happy with those two games."
Because the Rockets depend so much on Harden, the task of slowing him down was priority Nos. 1 through 10 or so on the Warriors' in-house game plan. And to hear Iguodala tell it, slowing Harden is an exercise in focus, intelligence and endurance.
"You make him take tough shots, and (Harden) made tough shots (in the first two games)," Iguodala said. "So you kind of throw some different things (at him). It's all the same concept defensively: Make him take a tough shot, don't let him get to his spot as easy, cut him off at certain angles, when pick and roll comes communication is key, try and get it out of his hands, and if he does catch it (have him) catch it as far out as possible, and then hope for the best."
Can the Warriors get better?
Here we are in late May, with this team up 3-0 in the Western Conference finals, and they're talking about getting better. They're using words like "development" and discussing lessons learned from the latest game. No folks, this is not normal.
Kerr pounded that point home afterward, expressing his glee at the fact that the first half was yet another reminder that defending with that kind of vigor can lead to a dominant performance in just the same way that a Splash Brothers clinic can.
"We're up 25 points (at halftime) with a box score that doesn't look that impressive from a shooting standpoint (45.1% shooting overall, 26.7% from three-point range)," Kerr said. "It's a great lesson for our team. If we defend like crazy and take care of the ball, we're going to be in good shape."
Even with the 2-0 series lead coming in, the Warriors weren't happy with the way things had gone. Bare in mind, this team that had a league-best plus-10.1 point differential during the regular season had won by a combined four points in those two games. That's not the sort of one-sided stuff they're used to, and it was made worse because Harden was looking like Michael Jordan the way he took it to them.
As big man Andrew Bogut said afterward, we would have seen this coming if we had known how much discontent there was inside their locker room.
"Look, it sounds arrogant and cocky, but we sure believe that (they can get better)," Bogut said. "We didn't play that well the first two games. You knew something was brewing in our locker room, and we had that focus today. We gave them our best shot, and we blew them apart.
"The series isn't over, but we've learned a whole lot about ourselves. The New Orleans series was great for us (in the first round) because even though it was a sweep, they pushed us, and they pushed us to the brink some games. Memphis (in the second round) was the same. They tested us. ... Every series, I feel like, has made us stronger and made us better."
Is Curry still improving too?
How can you tell when Curry is having a special night? When people are debating his historical place on Twitter. There was chatter about whether he was already better than Steve Nash had ever been and the great debate about whether he will go down as the best shooter of all-time.
But as Adams pointed out, it's the stuff that isn't being discussed that is helping him get to yet another level. The hustle plays. The sequence in the second quarter when he somehow beat Dwight Howard for a rebound, drew the second foul on the Rockets big man in a matter of seconds (giving Howard three at the time) and went to work demoralizing a Houston team that simply couldn't keep him in check.
"I know for you guys (the media) it's like he was doing it offensively tonight, but he's doing some small things that are extremely important that don't get publicized," Adams said. "That's just gratifying."
From Curry to the rest of them, this is the scary part for the Rockets and the team that they'll likely face in the Finals.
"I think there's more in us," Adams said.
Follow Sam Amick on Twitter @sam_amick.
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