Steve Kerr’s simple game plan comes down to a point of faith.
“If this is a half game, I really think that our defense can do it,” said the Warriors coach on Sunday evening.
The Warriors supported Kerr’s well-deserved confidence by holding the Houston Rockets with a series of graduate from their lowest exit of the season in a 95-85 victory in match 1 of what promises to be a confrontation of the qualifiers for the first round Western conference.
The edge of rebounds of the Rockets allowed them to take 11 additional shots and they could still not match the production of scores of the Warriors, thanks to a Golden State defense which kept them at 39.1% of shooting on the field and only six points out of 29 attempts (20.7%).
“I think, on the whole, we stole,” said Draymond Green, named one of the three finalists in the defensive player for the year of the NBA earlier in the day. “We have not abandoned easy looks. We followed our defensive game plan. Just take it difficult photos. “
The aggressive and often practical approach to the Rockets to keep Stephen Curry drew attention after having kept him at 3 points at their last meeting of the regular season, but it was the physics of the Warriors who drew the attention of Houston Udoka coach.
The first post-season match for Alperen Sangun, Jalen Green, Amen Thompson and many others on the young list of Rockets, Udoka, said that he did not believe “the moment” has arrived at them “but I would sometimes say that physics (the Warriors), I go after the guys”.
Segun was the only two -digit rocket until the fourth quarter and finished with 26 points halfway – the only Houston player with more than 11 – but even he recognized: “I think we were ready … I would say, I think we were a little nervous.”
Green, who collected on average 21.0 points per game during the regular season, was held at 7 on 3 out of 15 shots, while the veteran of the playoffs Fred Vanvleet went 4 out of 19 on the field and 2 out of 13 from a distance. Jabari Smith Jr., who scored 11 points on the bench, said it was not just a bad shooting evening.
“Our spacing was a little thrown this evening,” he said. “They hide the painting a lot on us. We just have to find ways to counter this. They embarked the painting, trapping Jalen (and) Fred, in a way while canant. They were trying to make us do the additional pass and we do not do it tonight. ”
The Rockets ranked in the lower third of the NBA in attempts of 3 points in the regular season, and Kerr joked by saying that it was “like 1997” with their physical offensive style, inside the arc. They have an average of 113.4 points per game, the 13th in the NBA, but obtained the seeded n ° 2 with their defense.
The defense of the Rockets ranked seventh in the NBA on 82 games. The Warriors have been the best since the arrival of Jimmy Butler III.
Green was asked if the victory was more satisfactory given the circumstances.
“We just want to win the match,” he said. “We understand that to win, you must defend yourself at a high level. They are the seed n ° 2 because they defend themselves at a very high level – you must give them their credit. But overall, Steph Curry generally finds a means.”
Curry finished with 31 points, Butler added 25 and the Warriors now have an advantage at home.
They knew that the rockets were going to obtain their offensive rebounds – and they did it: 22 of them – but they could minimize their advantage of possession by playing clean basketball. Houston exceeded 16 -year -old Warriors, took 11 additional attempts on the field and six additional shots on the line of fault, but also shot the ball more 16 times to the Warriors 11.
“Our defense is great, and we are going to count on this,” said Kerr. “We must recognize that we do not need to take risks in this series. We must be clean in our execution and our transition. We do not need to dribble traffic. We do not need to launch lob passes to try to get a dunk. We must be solid.”
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
