In the midst of their most competitive five-game stretch on the schedule, the Warriors continued to play some of their most inspiring, detail-oriented basketball of the season without Kevin Durant in a 113-106 win over the Houston Rockets.
Despite the Rockets holding a borderline astounding 39-16 advantage in free throw attempts, despite Steph Curry’s foul trouble, despite losing Draymond Green to a tweaked ankle for several minutes in the third quarter, the Warriors never trailed at the Toyota Center and saw their winning streak improve to eight games.
Tuesday had a throwback 2014-15 Warriors feel to it. Shots and ball movement were both coming so naturally that the Warriors fired 37 points out of a cannon in an action-packed first quarter. Klay Thompson is sizzling right now with increased touches on offense and scored 20 first half points (finished with 25). Curry fought through a tough shooting night (3-for-11 from downtown) to score 32 points, even while sitting a large chunk of the fourth quarter with five fouls. Two late 3’s from Curry put the icing on the cake.
The Warriors used a 11-2 run at the end of the third quarter to separate themselves from a Rockets comeback and pad a comfortable fourth quarter lead. Thompson and an array of others smothered James Harden (5-for-20, 24 points) and Houston had their worst 3-point shooting night of the season (5-for-31). Ironically, Harden is just 2-for-24 this season on 3-pointers against Golden State. He air-balled his last shot of the game.
With the win, Steve Kerr became the fastest coach to win 200 games in any of the four major pro sports. The victory also notched the Warriors’ 60th win for the third straight season. People better be appreciative of the greatness we are witnessing right in the Bay Area because it won’t always be this way. This is unreal and who knows if it ever would’ve happened without Kerr. Probably not. Kerr is now 17-3 all-time against Houston. A reminder: The Rockets were favored.
As the lead of this story accentuated, the whole flow of the game was controlled by Houston’s ability to draw fouls and it’s the reason they hung around until late. The refs were whistle-happy but the Warriors were undisciplined with their reaching. On one phantom foul call, the usually reserved Curry slammed the basketball over his head. On another, Thompson ran up the court with his fingers interlocked behind his head.
Draymond Green made impact defensive plays all throughout the game. Within the first three minutes, Green had already logged 2 steals, forced a turnover and altered a dunk enough at the rim for Trevor Ariza to miss. Green wrestled an offensive rebound to put the Warriors up 103-96 with 3:45 left in the fourth quarter. He hit another leaning one-foot set shot from the elbow to put the Warriors up 107-99 with two minutes left.
The roles of David West and Matt Barnes can’t be ignored either. West continues his role as a distributor, finishing with 5 assists in 14 minutes. With Curry sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter, Barnes hit back-to-back shots to give the Warriors a 99-89 lead with 5:34 remaining, a big moment in the game. JaVale McGee provided strong defense; Andre Iguodala played 29 minutes and scored 11 points and dished out 6 assists.
Things won’t get any easier Wednesday night in San Antonio. The Warriors have a three game lead in the Western Conference standings but the Spurs do hold the tie-breaker. Steve Kerr said he’s not planning on resting any of his key players. After San Antonio, it’s Houston and Washington Friday and Sunday at Oracle Arena.