Many teams would falter without their best player, but the Coach of the Year made sure that didn’t happen at Oracle Arena on Wednesday night. The Golden State Warriors sent the Rockets back to Houston in crushing fashion. With the reigning MVP in street clothes on the bench, others stepped up to the occasion and showed the whole world why they are the best team in the league.
Klay Thompson showed the national scene that he’s more than just Stephen Curry’s sidekick and that he should be in the conversation for best shooting guard in the league. He became the first player in NBA history to have consecutive playoff games with seven or more three-pointers made. He finished the game with 27 points on just four missed shots.
Without Curry however, someone had to fill the void as the team’s starting point guard. Veteran Shaun Livingston did an exceptional job. He made his first six shots of the game and was in total control. He didn’t let Patrick Beverley’s pesky defense phase him and he didn’t go out there trying to be something that he’s not. He stuck with his old-man game and the Warriors offensive flow was superb.
“We’re blessed, we are really lucky,” Head Coach Steve Kerr said after the game.” You lose your point guard, you lose the MVP, and to be able to throw Shaun Livingston out there, he’s a fantastic basketball player, a great teammate.”
Livingston had 16 points on 7 for 8 shooting from the field and was a plus 29. He believes that losing Curry gave the team a sense of urgency.
“I think it’s kind of a confidence-booster for everybody. We know how much he means to this team,” Livingston said. “We’d rather him be out there, but when he’s not out there, we have to pull together.”
The Warriors also didn’t take too kindly in Jason Terry running his mouth. The 38-year-old guaranteed that Houston would win Game 5 and came over 30 points short. Mo Speights especially didn’t like the fact that Terry said the win would come at beloved Oracle Arena.
“We made sure we gave them what they wanted. . . a smack,” Speights said with a smile after the game.
Golden State made over twice as many threes as Houston on one less attempt. They held the Rockets to 32.6% shooting from the field. Take away what James Harden had, and the remainder of the team shot a horrendous 26.3%, a little over a quarter of their shots. Dwight Howard was a force on the glass and when a team out rebounds their opponent by 13, they win. Houston was embarrassed by 33 points.
The loss of Curry sparked the Warriors. Many on the team described his departure from the game emotional and claimed they never saw him like that. To hear some fans cheer the injury made matters worse. The Dubs took exception to that and have dominated the Rockets ever since. Houston was never able to regain their composure or any kind of momentum in the series again.
“That third quarter really just took the life out of us,” James Harden said on the collapse in Game 4.
J. B. Bickerstaff praised the Warriors after the game and said despite injuries, they are still one of the best teams in the league right now. He’s right — a lot of it has to do with the coaching staff. They keep the players on their toes and are constantly changing up rotations. It’s easy to say that Steve Kerr has it easy because he has such a talented player like Stephen Curry. However, without the league MVP, Kerr was able to coach the team to an incredible game.
The Warriors spread the ball beautifully and had only nine turnovers to go along with their 30 assists. For comparison’s sake, the Rockets had 17 turnovers and 17 assists. One continuous achilles heel is the lack of consistent free-throw shooting. This could hurt the Warriors down the stretch in games like it did in Game 3. Festus Ezeli and Andre Iguodala were poor from the line as usual and Klay Thompson even had an uncharacteristic miss. Patience is a virtue, though. It’s still the first round.
With all the fun and joy from the game, it’s hard to forget Luke Walton could be gone next season. The possibility is looking higher and higher. Steve Kerr told reporters prior to the game that the team is letting Walton interview for the Los Angeles Lakers position now that this series is done. ESPN is now also reporting that Walton will talk to the Rockets about potentially filling that role. Let’s save this for another article, though.
The good news is the Warriors get at least a few days of rest before Portland-Los Angeles finish up their series and Curry looked good on the bench (picking up Ian Clark, dancing, jumping around, etc). The best player in the world can be back in a jersey sooner than you expect. The Warriors are optimistic and got the realistic best news they could have received after the MRI. I still expect him to miss the first two-three games of the Semi-Finals, but you never know in sports.
Golden State was victorious yet again and beat the Rockets 4-1 in back-to-back years. The morale of the Rockets locker room was down, as expected.
“It sucks. We just got our ass beat,” Patrick Beverley told reporters following Game 5.
If the Warriors keep playing like this, it won’t be too long before we hear those words out of another player’s mouth. The next man up attitude will take the Golden State Warriors far, as the NBA Champions are still the team to beat.