Warriors control second half to beat Rockets in Game 1: 3 takeaways

After weathering an early storm, the Golden State Warriors took over in the second half to beat the Houston Rockets in Game 1.

The Houston Rockets and their home fans were fired up to start the Western Conference Finals, and an early Draymond Green technical foul for shoving James Harden only turned up the Toyota Center crowd even more. But the inevitability of the Golden State Warriors took hold as Game 1 wore on, resulting in a 119-106 victory for the defending champions.

Steve Kerr wasted no time in going to his best lineup to start Monday’s heavyweight bout, but Harden started hot as the Rockets outscored the Hamptons Five by eight points in almost four minutes before Andre Iguodala left the game with two quick fouls. Houston’s lead got as big as nine points before Golden State began to reel them back in.

It looked like the Warriors may run away in the second quarter, but a Clint Capela block of Stephen Curry helped shift momentum before a big Harden burst to end the half had the game tied at 56-56 at the break.

As they have all season, though, the Warriors took control in the third quarter. The Hamptons Five went plus-8 this time to start the frame, with a whole lot of Kevin Durant scoring to lead the way. Golden State went up by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, and while Houston whittled that down to four early in the fourth quarter, the Dubs never lost control.

Klay Thompson effectively delivered the dagger with a wide-open 3-pointer with just under four minutes to play, which followed a missed over-and-back call that had the Rockets incensed:

Instead of a seven-point deficit with the ball, Houston trailed by 10 and the remaining air left the building. The Warriors have now stolen home-court advantage and made Game 2 basically a must-win for the Rockets.

Takeaways

Kevin Durant was ruthless. While many people think of 3-pointers and beautiful basketball when they think of the Warriors, the addition of Durant allows them to ugly it up a bit on offense and still have a ton of success. Golden State went to KD over and over on the block, and he knocked down a bunch of tough jumpers en route to 37 points on 14-of-27 shooting.

Durant only took three of his 27 shots at the rim, while 18 of his field goal attempts came on non-restricted area 2-pointers. He hit nine of those shots, often with a defender draped all over him. The Rockets may live with those attempts, but Durant is so good that he can hit them at a high percentage.

Crazy enough, Durant only had three rebounds, one assist and a block. It was 40 minutes of getting buckets, though he also turned up the defense as the Warriors locked in over the course of the game.

James Harden put forth a valiant effort. Harden’s shotmaking was incredible. The Beard scored a game-high 41 points on 14-of-24 shooting overall and 5-of-9 from 3-land to go along with seven assists. He constantly hunted out switches, with Curry and Kevon Looney the usual targets. Curry and Looney battled hard and had a few key stops, but Harden typically got the better of them.

However, Harden did have one crucial missed layup in the third quarter that preceded a Warriors run to create separation, and he had a few turnovers coming down the stretch as the Dubs snuffed out the Rockets’ actions. Golden State also had a lot of success picking on Harden’s defense, which will be a theme all series. Harden is already carrying a big load offensively and has to work hard and deliberately for his points, so surviving on the other end against this Warriors juggernaut will be tough.

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Harden needs more help from the other guys, but it may not matter. The Rockets acquired Chris Paul to take pressure off Harden. CP3 finally ended his conference finals drought and played a major role in doing so, but he’ll need to be better for Houston to have a chance. He finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds in Game 1, but it was a quiet double-double and he only had three assists.

While Paul will likely be better, there are more questions about Houston’s other guys. Capela was solid and Eric Gordon had a few nice scoring spurts, but the Rockets’ other role players were mostly awful. Luc Mbah a Moute missed all six of his shots off the bench, including a handful of layups and open 3s, en route to a minus-14. P.J. Tucker missed all three of his shots and Trevor Ariza was in foul trouble. Gerald Green’s defense was torched, while Ryan Anderson and Nene were non-factors.

Of course, better performances from some of these guys still might not be enough against Golden State. The Warriors shot 52.5 percent and hit 13 3-pointers on the road, despite Curry not having his best game. Curry had 18 points and made only one 3-pointer, though he found a way to make an offensive impact in other ways with eight assists and a variety of driving layups.

Thompson took over the No. 2 scoring role by going for 28 points on 9-of-18 shooting and six 3-pointers. Green played a marvelous defensive game and was a game-best plus-19 after a shaky start. It turns out having four All-Stars is quite the luxury, and the Warriors even found some money with Nick Young hitting three triples off the bench. Game 1 showed just how high of a mountain the Rockets have to climb.