ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — Two-and-a-half days after finishing the 2015-16 regular season with an NBA-record 73 wins, the Golden State Warriors started their quest for a repeat championship with Game 1 of the opening round of the Western Conference Playoffs against the Houston Rockets.
The Warriors were without Kevon Looney (hip), while James McAdoo was listed as inactive. The Rockets were without Sam Dekker (back), while Terrence Jones was listed as inactive.
1st Quarter – Breaking Through Early Jitters
Both teams came out shooting jittery, front-rimming and back-rimming. James Harden even bricked a layup, while Stephen Curry airballed a late shot-clock catch-and-heave off a swing pass.
The Warriors also committed a rare shotclock violation on their first possession.
But Curry finally got the first bucket out of the way, a catch-and-shoot rattler from the right corner, finally quelling the anticipation of 20,000 rabid fans cheering, “Let’s go Warriors!”
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Then after Patrick Beverley and Corey Brewer airballed successive runners, Curry drove the left side nicely, only to get denied at the waist by Dwight Howard.
However, Curry caught his own miss and dished to Draymond Green at the top for a swish from beyond the arc, and the Warriors had an early 6-0 lead as Rockets head coach J.B. Bickerstaff called timeout to settle his team down:
Traymond pic.twitter.com/LSMMWoghZz
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 16, 2016
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After the timeout, Andrew Bogut stopped Howard at the rim, but later, Klay Thompson fouled Howard from behind at the rim for an “and-one”.
Green scored on a near-dunk-attempt off a sideout inbound play over Howard, with Dwight claiming a forearm clear-out by Draymond to no avail:
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Curry got a steal, then on the other end, got tangled up with Beverley, and both had an altercation. Beverley was whistled with the immediate technical and, after further review from the referees, Steph was tagged with a “T” as well:
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Steph’s mom, Sonya Curry, wasn’t happy about it, either:
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This occurred in front of veteran official Danny Crawford, who then tightened the reins, calling a bad screen on Green, where Beverley may have flopped a bit…
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…as well as some early fouls away from the ball on the Rockets’ next couple of possessions, plus this hockey check on Steph by Josh Smith:
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Later, Beverley and Curry, who were roommates twice at Under-19 camps, “made up”:
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After a Michael Beasley jumper, Green got past him plus the harm and gave his trademark flex, but once again missed the “and-one” free throw.
Beasley then lost track of Curry, who swished a catch-and-shoot:
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Festus Ezeli came in and immediately got two putbacks, the second a two-hand jam after Green drew Howard away from Ezeli on the attack down the left side:
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Ezeli added one more slam off an alley-oop via “tic-tac-toe” from Steph and Draymond…
Warriors starting to get silly on the Rockets pic.twitter.com/O0KkzLoZ1D
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 16, 2016
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…then Beasley coughed the ball up to Shaun Livingston and, after crossing halfcourt with Harden waiting, Curry launched from the deep left wing and swished it:
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That gave Golden State, playing great defense combined with just poor shooting from Houston, a 25-10 lead with 2:32 remaining.
Later, Harden made a bad pass that Steph stole and finished, Jason Terry fouled him on a deep attempt from the right wing — if you could call it a “wing”, it was so far from the basket — then went right baseline for a drive and a reverse layup.
With 13.6 seconds to play, Kerr had Ezeli intentionally foul Clint Capela, who missed one of two throws, and Curry missed a scoop back-rim down the middle of the lane.
The Warriors took a 33-15 lead into the second quarter, holding the Rockets to 6-for-20 shooting, while Steph led the way with 16 points on 5-for-9 field, 3-for-5 on threes. He also had a game-high 6 rebounds.
2nd Quarter – More Dazzles
Marreese Speights started out with a jumper, but Kerr called timeout shortly thereafter when Speights took an early three and missed.
The rest of the quarter was a highlight reel for the Warriors, particularly Curry.
After Howard missed a two-handed dunk, Andre Iguodala led the break and Steph got this dipsy-doo to drop:
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Klay went past Harden, who later picked up his third — an offensive elbow with Curry guarding him — and fourth personal fouls:
Good defense by James Harden here pic.twitter.com/2S10LCQpRl
— Drew Shiller (@DrewShiller) April 16, 2016
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Here, Bogut supplied the off-ball pick to free Curry:
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Steph did it on the defensive end, too, getting this pick of Harden and an above-the-shoulder (or waist?) touchdown to Iguoala:
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But at some point late in the quarter, he turned his ankle and had to head to the locker room with 1:07 remaining:
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The Warriors took a commanding 60-33 lead into halftime.
Curry tallied 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals on 8-for-13 shooting, 5-for-7 downtown. Ezeli had 6 points and 4 rebounds off the bench in just 6 minutes of play. Harden was held to 4 points on 2-for-9 field. Howard led the Rockets with 11 points and 8 rebounds.
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