A feeling of crushing of arrogance has permeated the corridor of the Toyota Center which leads to the visitors’ locker rooms in the minutes which followed the series of series of Golden State Warriors in 103-89 against the Houston Rockets in match 7 of their clash of the playoffs in the first round.
Benefiting from Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, the longtime pillars of the Golden State dynasty. “Surprise!” Howled green, smiling like a villain of the film you like to hate. Then came Buddy Hield, a few minutes after playing the game of his life, jumping in a sea of relieved staff.
Match 7 Sunday evening was like a modern restart of a classic Warriors. Hield led all the scorers with 33 points, evoking Klay Thompson. Jimmy Butler scored 20 points and struck several shots in the second period. And all of this was crowned by the shine of Curry, which scored 14 of its 22 points in the fourth quarter, causing a 12-0 Warriors race which put the match out of reach and struck the Golden State ticket for Minnesota, where their second round series against the Timberwolves will kick Tuesday evening.
“I could not be more proud of our guys,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr after the victory. “It was an incredibly impressive resolution demonstration.”
The Warriors have already been here – and they behave like that, driving almost thread in a victory or faith match on the road against a hungry opponent. Despite all the new faces that have joined the team since even the title of 2022 – solely that of 2015 – Golden State retains its championship DNA. Everything still stems from curry. The offensive spirit Green Curry-Green always opens everything for a multitude of players. And the defense always tightens when it needs it.
In the series against the Rockets, the confidence of the Warriors was tested, but it never hesitated. Golden State won a 95-85 victory, while Curry slipped at 31 points, including five 3 points and a few shimmia to start. The Warriors won victories in two of the next three games to take a 3-1 lead, but the series started wreaking havoc. Butler missed the match 3 after a hard fall on his cucker. Curry fought an inch injury on his firing hand. And the rockets relied on their youth and their physique, tracking the curry from top to bottom on the ground and blurring the warriors inside with the double-big combo of Alperen Sangun and Steven Adams.
The effects of the war of attrition were amplified by Green, which accumulated two blatant faults during the first six games, regularly disturbing the flow of Golden State. But even if his behavior devoted himself to familiar stockings, Green summoned his best in important moments, including a stop of the 4 -Stage match on Sengun, setting up a series of standard shot in Houston – which he then seemed to minimize.
“This is not the end of the world,” said Green after match 4 when he was asked how the victory of a closing match 5 would be for the team. “When you have the opportunity to close, you want to do that. But it’s not like we’re going there and we can’t do the job, we are going away. You just go to the next.”
The following two games showed the consequences of Green’s state of mind. In Houston, the Rockets delivered a beat of 131-116 which led Kerr to draw the beginners of Golden State for the whole fourth quarter. Two days later, at the Chase Center, the Rockets embarrassed the Warriors 115-107. In the second half of this defeat of match 6, Green launched the Rockets goalkeeper Jalen Green on the ground, winning a blatant fault.
“I spent the last two days to embarrass just what I gave in the match,” said Draymond on Sunday evening. “I know I can resume my intensity. I know I’m going to be (intense) … and I felt like I go too far. “
The losses caused a night of Green self-reflection, including the coach of the college, Tom Izzo; Best friend, Travis Walton; And his wife, Hazel, has turned the Mercurial in turn to the front for a good task at dawn.
“The people I trust have the most heart to heart after the match,” said Green. “I spent the last two days to embarrass.”
The following evening, during a team dinner, Green got up to recognize his mistakes and promise to be better.
“‘I must be ready and I must be better, and we will come here tomorrow and do it,” recalls Kerr Green. Sunday, Green achieved a performance of 16 points, six reimbursements and five assistants, attracting the praise of his coach. “I think that his emotional stability tonight, just his balance from the start, I thought it was giving a big tone,” said Kerr.
In the most important match of the Warriors of the season, they rediscovered their balance and their winning formula. Golden State dominated Houston 33-27 in the fourth quarter, winning its fifth series of playoffs against Rockets and throwing salt on a rocket injury which has been open since the start of the Golden State race.
For the Warriors, the possibility of composing for match 7 is a good omen for their series against Minnesota, which will enter match 1 having had six days of rest. Like that of Houston, the alignment of Minnesota boasts of athletics superior to young people of warriors, more promising and a crowd of long and difficult defenders. He also presents a generational talent named Anthony Edwards, who is looking forward to launching the ass of Golden State. Since the stars break, Minnesota has been one of the hottest teams in the NBA, winning nine of its last regular game games to finish sixth in the West Conference. In the first round, the Wolves facilitated the work of the Lakers, beating LeBron and Luka in five games.
Meanwhile, the Warriors box in the series in the face of three harsh realities: they are old, they are small and most of the country do not give them a chance. The warriors themselves are confident, but unlike the past seasons, this team has little or no margin of error.
“They’re hot right now,” said Curry about Wolves. “They have played an excellent basketball (above) in recent months, and we are delighted to have more basketball to play.”
The next 48 hours will be filled with predictable scenarios: from the return of Butler to Minnesota, of the team to which he asked for a job in 2018, and to know if Green can keep his hands for him while sharing the court with Rudy Gobert. But Golden State’s biggest challenge could be to find the right balance between confidence and arrogance and allow its collective experience to win on the exhausting toll that basketball in the playoffs takes older teams.
For years, the Warriors have had the goods to regularly govern the rest of the league, using superior talents to overcome their mistakes. Now outsider against young Timberwolves, the Warriors will try to play successes again. But how far this group can follow its groove to see.
“One thing about this league,” said Green on Sunday evening, “you’re never finished proving who you are until you are finished.” Completely. “
