The Golden State Warriors made their case as the biggest threat to Oklahoma City in the West last week, beating the Nuggets and Lakers.
On Sunday, the Houston Rockets gave the blueprint for beating the Warriors. The Rockets’ long, athletic defenders swarmed Stephen Curry and took the ball out of his hands, selling out on him and daring anyone else to beat them.
The result was Stephen Curry finishing with 3 points on 1-of-10 shooting and 1-of-8 from 3, and the Warriors, as a team, had 20 turnovers. The other result was a 106-96 Rockets win.
Nobody else on the Warriors stepped up. Jimmy Butler had 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting, Brandin Poddziemski had 19 points, and Buddy Hield scored 20, but the Warriors’ playmaking was gone, and they struggled to score.
You can be sure other teams took note heading into the playoffs, though not every team has the young legs the Rockets do to pull it off. The Warriors also just had an off night, there would be counters to this, and not every team has the depth of athletic defenders the Rockets does, but the blueprint is out there. How well teams can copy it remains to be seen.
The Rockets had a balanced attack with 24 points from Dillon Brooks, 21 from Jalen Green, and 19 points with 14 rebounds from Alperen Sengun.
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