Golden State coach Steve Kerr described Stephen Curry’s performance Saturday night simply.
“Steph was Steph,” Kerr said.
Indeed.
The MVP did what he does best, using his extraordinary three-point shooting to power a 40-point game and the Warriors made it look easy against Houston, beating the Rockets 115-80 to take a 3-0 lead in the NBA semi-final Western Conference finals.
“He’s had a brilliant season,” Kerr said. “The shooting is hard to describe because I don’t think we’ve ever seen anybody shoot the ball the way Steph does off the dribble, off the catch.”
The Warriors won the first two games by just five points combined. There would be no such drama in this one, with Curry leading them to a 26-point advantage in the second quarter.
Now the baby-faced MVP has Golden State one victory away from their first trip to the NBA Finals since they won the 1975 title. Game 4 is Monday night in Houston.
“We understand it’s a special moment, it’s just we’re wrapped up in our day to day grind of preparing for games and going out and exerting all the effort we need to make this story happen,” Curry said. “So it’s kind of hard to remove yourself from those emotions.”
Curry was unstoppable, making seven three-pointers to break the NBA record for most threes in the play-offs in a season with 64.
MVP runner-up James Harden finished with 17 points behind 10-of-11 free-throw shooting, but made just 3-of-16 shots as the Rockets dropped three straight for the first time all season.
Dwight Howard, who played despite a knee injury suffered in Game 1, had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Houston rebounded from a 3-1 deficit in the conference semi-finals to beat the Clippers and move on. No team in NBA history have won a series after falling behind 3-0.
“We just can’t quit on each other,” Howard said. “We’ve come too far. We’ve been through too many battles to just allow it to end like tonight ... we’ve just got to man up.”
Draymond Green and Klay Thompson added 17 points apiece for the Warriors.
Curry had 37 points after three quarters and went to the bench for good with about 5 min 30 sec remaining after his seventh three-pointer made it 103-73. He also had seven rebounds and five assists.
After coach Kerr complained about turnovers in the last game, the Warriors had just one before half-time to help them run away with this one early.
“If we defend like crazy and take care of the ball, we’re going to be in good shape,” Kerr said.
The Rockets have rebounded from double-digit deficits in three of their eight wins this post-season, but this time they fell into a hole way too big to overcome. Especially when Harden’s shots weren’t falling.
The Warriors were in control of this one from the start and were up by 12 at the end of the first. But things got out of hand quickly when Curry heated up.
A pair of free throws by Harden cut the lead to nine points with about 6 minutes left in the quarter when Curry took over. He scored the next six points as part of a 16-5 run where he scored all but two of the Warriors points to push the lead to 54-34.
Curry broke the record for threes in the play-offs on a long one from the top of the key that put Golden State up 49-32 about 4 min 30 sec before half-time. Reggie Miller set the previous mark of 58 in 2000.
He did a little bit of everything in that span. There was the finger roll lay-up, a bank shot, seven free throws and even a pair of rebounds to get Golden State rolling.
Houston couldn’t do anything right on either end of the court for most of the second quarter, and made just one field goal and missed six shots in the six minutes before half-time.
“I was surprised that we didn’t come out with more,” Houston coach Kevin McHale said. “I thought we would come out with a little more juice.”
The Warriors led by 25 at half-time and Houston opened the third quarter strong, using a 13-6 spurt to get within 68-50. Thompson made a free throw after that before Curry took control once again, scoring the next five points, including a three-pointer under heavy pressure, to push it to 75-50 midway through the third quarter.
Curry pumped his fist and screamed to no one in particular as several of his teammates raised three fingers in the air.
He wrapped up the third quarter in much the same way, scoring Golden State’s last five points, capped by a three-pointer to make it 92-61 entering the fourth quarter.
Howard was the only positive for the Rockets in the first half and he had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Harden made just 1-of-8 shots in the first half, but had eight points after making all six of his free throws.
Golden State led 62-37 at half-time.
The Warriors led 30-18 at the end of the first quarter behind 10 points from Andrew Bogut.
*Associated Press
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