With the greatest basketball player in the world wearing a sport coat and slacks Monday night, the Warriors needed some other guys to step up.
“All the guys knew they had to be aggressive with Steph out,” coach Steve Kerr said afterward.
And that they were. The Warriors were aggressive, inspired and resilient. Most of all, they were simply better than the Houston Rockets. Again. Golden State won 115-106 in Game 2 of this Western Conference first-round series, a win that allowed the Warriors to breathe a sigh of relief with superstar Stephen Curry nursing a sore right ankle on the bench.
The list of heroes was long. Klay Thompson poured in 34 points, sinking 15 of 16 free throws. Sixth man Andre Iguodala ignited the Oracle Arena crowd with four first-half 3-pointers. Curry’s replacement in the starting lineup, Shaun Livingston, added 16 points and six assists. Center Andrew Bogut had 10 points and blocked three shots.
And every time the Rockets made it close, the Warriors found a way to push their lead higher.
“They have a locker room full of champions,” Houston coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “So regardless if one guy’s out, the rest of the guys are champions, too, and they’ve got that spirit. So you can’t look at it and say, well, Steph is out, so this is our night.”
Game 3 is Thursday night in Houston, and the Rockets will have to discover some new strategy or reserve of will if they want the series to return to Oracle Arena.
All eyes were on Curry’s ankle before the game. An hour and 45 minutes before tipoff, Kerr told reporters that Curry would be a classic “game-time decision.” The marksman took the court a little later to execute his usual ball-handling drills, then went through an abbreviated shooting session.
But Curry didn’t push off the ankle very hard during the warmup, and he headed to the locker room shaking his head after about five minutes.
It was the first game Curry had missed since March 1, and the first time he’d ever sat out an NBA playoff game.
He first tweaked the ankle late in the first half of Game 1 when he missed a shot, started to get back on defense, slipped and felt some pain in the ankle. Curry re-taped the joint and tried to play in the second half that day, but Kerr shut him down in less than three minutes.
No one is sure Curry will be ready for Game 3. Kerr said Monday’s win doesn’t affect the decision.
“You never want to put winning ahead of a player’s career, and his health,” the coach said. “We’ve seen teams do that and pay for it, players have paid for it in the past. We want to make sure Steph is right, and foot is fine and healthy. So we’ll see how he responds the next couple of days. And if he’s not right, obviously being up 2-0 does give us a little more cushion. But it’ll be based on his health, not the series score.”
Livingston took over the point and led the Warriors out of the tunnel for pregame introductions. His points including a slam off a lob from Draymond Green just before the halftime buzzer. And he did while not feeling well.
The Rockets rarely led, but they hung around for a long time, cutting their deficit to three points late in the third quarter, and again with 9:51 left in the game, when it was 88-85. It was largely due to the efforts of James Harden, who finished with 28 points and 11 assists.
Harden, who was second to Curry in scoring this season, didn’t take a single free throw in Game 1. Determined to change that, he repeatedly lured the Warriors into touch fouls in the first half of Game 2, either in the lane or along the arc.
Three times, Harden drew fouls on 3-point attempts. He shot 13 free throws in the first half Monday, but only two in the second.
“We only reached one time in the second half,” Kerr said. “Klay reached in and fouled him. We reached four or five times in first half. Every time you reach on James Harden, he’s going to draw a foul. He’s the best in the league at it. ... He’s smart. And we have to be more disciplined.”
It was another frustrating night for Houston center Dwight Howard, who fouled out with 4:13 left. He scored 12 points.
This wasn’t an easy win for the Warriors by any means.
But even with their top playmaker on the bench, they left no doubt about which of these teams is superior.