1) Even without Stephen Curry, an offense unto himself, a man that requires a defender on him 40 feet from the basket, the Warriors are too deep, too disciplined, too good to lose to this Rockets team. The Dubs had five players finish with double-digit scoring, and Mo Speights nearly got there with nine points, including a timely corner-three when the Rockets were mounting a mini run. Golden State got key contributions from just about every player that entered the game for them while the Rockets got to watch James Harden dribble and dribble and dribble the ball on offense.
2) Harden was again inefficient on the floor, connecting on only seven shots in 19 attempts. The Dubs did a great job funneling him to his weak hand and shading an extra defender his way, ceding open jumpers to the other Rocket players (who couldn’t make the Warriors pay consistently). However, unlike in Game 1, the Dubs couldn’t resist reaching on his shots, and it cost them. The Beard got 15 trips to the line, nine of which came on three fouls beyond the arc. But for the most part, Harden has been held in check in this series and his teammates have floundered without his scoring opening up opportunities for them on offense.
3) Klay had an Allen Iverson kind of a night (in a good way). He shot only 8-of-20 but managed to score 34 points on the back of a career-high 16 free throw attempts. With Curry and his 30-points-per-game out of the lineup, the Dubs needed scoring and Klay delivered, even if they weren’t in the most efficient manner. (It certainly helped that Houston’s defense didn’t communicate and repeatedly got lost on switches.)
4) Shhh. No one tell JB Bickerstaff that Donatas Montiejunas iso post ups on Dray is not the secret sauce to beating the Warriors.
5) Shaun Livingston dropped 16 points and six assists in Steph’s absence. Shaun can’t shoot threes and relies on a back-down turnaround jumper to get his points. He’s the offensive antithesis to the Dubs’ pace and space style. Yet his steady ball-handling, reliable scoring and long-limbed defense makes him the best back-up point guard the Warriors have had since … Steve Blake? Toney Douglas? Acie Law? Vonteego Cummings? (I could go on, but you get the point.)
6) The Warriors are up 2-0 even with Curry missing one game and Playoff Harrison still absent (1-10 FG, 6 points). At some point the team will need HB to show up, but right now they’re deep enough to beat a struggling Rockets team that might actually hate another.
7) Does openly barking at a teammate during play affect a team’s Real Plus-Minus? If so, Houston would lead the league in negativity figuratively and literally.
8) Andre Igoudala making threes (4-6) is a nice surprise for Warriors’ fans. Josh Smith making threes (3-4) is also a nice surprise for this Warriors fans. I’m all for J Smoove continuing to chuck from deep in this series. I’ll live with those 28.7% odds any day.
9) On one play in the fourth quarter, as soon as Harden caught the ball at the top of the key with a single defender on him, the rest of his teammates, in unison, immediately dropped below the free throw line to allow him to work one-on-one. What a depressing brand of basketball this must be for his teammates. Harden is a wizard on offense, sure, but human beings want to touch the ball and feel a vested interest in their team’s success. No one wants to just stand in the corner and wait for a pass that may never come.
10) Before the game, Kawhi Leonard was announced as the winner of this year’s Defensive Player of the Year Award. I have no problem with that. It was a coin toss between Kawhi and Dray. In a vacuum, Leonard is probably the better defender, especially one-on-one on the perimeter and in denying the ball, but Draymond is much more versatile, able to legitimately guard all five positions. That of course, is the key that unlocks the Warriors potent Death Lineup. Whatever the case, Dray will have the tougher task in these playoffs: he’s helping to defend the Warriors’ championship — 2-0 is certainly a great start.