SAN FRANCISCO – With Jimmy Butler III relegated to a well-padded seat on the bench, the Warriors on Saturday were forced to revisit the limitations of their offense. Their hopes rested on the improvisational brilliance of Stephen Curry and a prayer.
Curry accomplished his mission, Gary Payton II answered the prayer, and the Warriors closed out a 104-93 win over the Houston Rockets to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.
The Warriors are not exactly in command, not yet, but winning without Butler makes a statement to themselves and to the Rockets – one that was personally delivered by Curry: We want to win with Jimmy, but we’re capable of winning without him.
Curry finished with a game-high 36 points, 21 of which came in the second half when the Warriors outscored the Rockets 58-44. He also added seven assists and three rebounds after intermission.
All against a defense designed to send waves of punishment.
“This is what superstars do in playoff games,” coach Steve Kerr said. “You can’t win games without the great players in the league. When you go deep, the playoffs get tougher and tougher. The great players just give the whole team confidence, and that’s what Steph does.”
The Warriors trailed most of the first half, falling behind by as much as 13 points. The defense was keeping them within range, but the offense was being stifled. A 9-0 finish to the half allowed them to go into the locker room trailing by only three (49-46).
“There was just a moment in the second quarter where I had to kind of get a little bit more assertive and not let the double teams and the traps take me out of possessions,” Curry said. “I only had four shots in the first quarter, and usually that can work to our advantage if we are moving the ball and guys are getting open looks.
“But it didn’t seem like there was a lot of flow, so I kind of did kind of force the issue a little bit in the second quarter and got going. Thankfully hit some shots.”
Curry’s presence always gives the Warriors hope, but his third-quarter flurry, 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, including 2 of 3 from deep, gave them – and the vociferous sellout crowd at Chase Center – a strong sense of belief.
There was, according to longtime teammate Draymond Green, an inspirational element to what Curry was doing.
“We all follow him just with that type of tenacity,” Green said. “You’re not going to be the guy to let him down when he’s playing like that. I think anybody wants to be that guy where he’s coming out, he’s given that type of effort. Oftentimes I try to bring that energy, and I didn’t have it. He found it, and then I followed him, and we all followed him.
“I thought it was beautiful, you know, he realized that it wasn’t there, and he took it upon himself to, you know, bring that type of force to the game, and we all fell in line and followed.”
Houston took its last lead, 84-83, on a Dillon Brooks 3-ball with 5:47 remaining. Curry fed Payton for a layup 20 seconds later, followed by two more Curry dimes to Payton in the next 58 seconds. That spurred a 20-9 closing run.
Curry’s 36 points came on 12-of-23 shooting from the field, including 5 of 13 from beyond the arc. He added a team-high nine assists and seven rebounds to finish plus-18 over 41 minutes.
“He’s Steph Curry,” Kerr said. “He’s one much greatest players of all time. He’s 37. He’s one of the most well-conditioned athletes I’ve ever seen in my life.
“To play 41 minutes against that kind of defense, to have a slow start and then find his rhythm, which we have seen him do countless times over the years, to hit big shots, to only turn it over twice against that kind of pressure, he was brilliant.”
With Curry leading the way, the second half was the first time this series when Golden State’s offense looked as designed, with testimony coming from 16 assists. The Warriors through the first 10 quarters averaged five assists per against Houston’s overtly physical defense.
And now they will try to assert themselves and take a 3-1 series lead in Game 4 on Monday night at Chase. The hope is that Butler will be able to play.
“Hopefully he’s back next game,” Curry said. “Or if he’s not, we can still play at a high level and we can win a tough physical playoff game. I think we all know, we’re trying to win 14 more of these. We need Jimmy to do that.
“But if there’s a situation where somebody is not available, next-man-up mentality, it’s got to be a belief and a confidence. Two months ago, I don’t know if we had that.”
The Warriors have it now. They backed it up by winning a game that, on paper, seemed ominous.
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