(2) WARRIORS V. (1) ROCKETS
GAME 2 - WEST FINALS
GSW 105 @ HOU 127
A lot of candor was spoken after Game 1 about how much the Rockets needed to change their iso-ways if they stood any chance of thwarting Golden State.
D'Antoni spoke into multiple microphones after game 1 calmly assuring that this team has an identity and they're going to stay true to it. Are there tweaks to their game plan that can be made? Sure. But D'Antoni clearly believed in the system and let the media know they should too.
After HOU's game 2 victory last night, D'Antoni doubled down on this conjecture:
“You’re not going to come in and change the way you play. ”That’s the way we played all year. Sometimes we get bogged down, but usually because we can’t get out in transition, can’t get that force and then the ball—seems like all we do is keep it. But again, we are who we are, and we had to be who we are.
We just did it better, longer, guys believe it and we’re not going to change anything up. That would be silly on my part to panic. You don’t do that. We’re very comfortable about who we are. We can beat anybody, anywhere at any time playing the way we play. Some people might not like it. Sorry. You know, it might not look good to some people, but it’s effective, it’s efficient.”
Turns out he was right on the money. At large, the recipe of success for the Rockets can be relegated to their heightened activity; they played with a significantly higher amount of energy and hustle, which in turn elevated the other elements of their game; ball-movement, defense, and bench production.
These three items ultimately elevated the main hot-topic; their offense.
Houston knocked down 16(!!!) threes last night accounting for more than 1/3 of their total 127 points.
Ariza, Tucker, and Gordon were fantastic for Houston's role-player production, combining for 68 points, 12 assists, and 13 rebounds.
Golden State on the other hand looked flat from the jump. If you look up and down the box score, the only glaring weakness from a numbers standpoint was the rebounding differential as a team, 42-57.
Other than that, Golden State loss this game based on a doing the opposite of what Houston amped up; lack of intensity, hustle, and focus. These elements have plagued the Dubs during the regular season but we were led to believe this was boredom-induced and the switch would be permanently flipped in the playoffs, especially by the western conference finals.
However, bad habits formed earlier in the season manifested into game 2, providing the idea stage for a Houston defeat.
Durant shot the ball well again, tallying 38 points, but the offensive severely tapered off after that. None of the starters were positive in the plus/minus column, which was particularly interesting with Kerr electing to start the Hampton's Five.
Also to no surprise, Houston clearly is making a concerted effort to attack and exploit Curry's weaknesses on defense. To be fair, Curry isn't playing bad defense, he's just getting banged up running into multiple screens, getting bodied on post-ups from the likes of Chris Paul, or put on skates by the sorcery of James Harden.
It's having an effect on Curry's energy levels on the offensive side of the floor since so much focus is being spent defensively. It's a pretty smart approach considering the knee injury Curry is coming off of, and although he won't comment that the injury is effecting him, it's impossible to believe at the very least he doesn't mentally feel 100% coming back from injury.
Even with all this being said, game three has the makings of an impressive showing from Golden State. This is a team that doesn't take bad losses well, so over the next 4 days they will have ample time to stew on this one. Being at home will certainly invigorate them and propel at the very least, a spirited effort. Look for a classic Curry performance, as well as peak-Draymond running rampant.
KEY CONTRIBUTORS
HOU
19 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL, 77% shooting
27 PTS, 3 REB, 2 AST, 6-9 From THree
GSW
38 PTS, 3 REB, 9-9 FT
16 PTS, 7 AST, 7 REB