Warriors’ secret to 2-0 lead over Rockets? ‘We respect them greatly’
OAKLAND — So how did the Warriors manage to sweep two games at Oracle Arena against the potent Houston Rockets after losing twice at home in their opening playoff series to the No. 8 seed Los Angeles Clippers?
“I think Houston’s raised our awareness, our level of play,” Warriors guard Klay Thompson said. “We respect them greatly, especially the battle we had last year in the seven-game series. So we want to take care of homecourt.”
The Warriors did that with a 115-109 victory on in Game 2 Tuesday night and will carry a 2-0 lead with them when the Western Conference semifinal series moves to Houston on Saturday.
Last year’s 4-3 Western Conference finals win over the Rockets in which the Warriors rallied from a 3-2 hole, remains fresh in their minds. This is the fourth postseason meeting between the two franchises in five years, and many fans and experts regard this as a clash between the NBA’s two best teams.
“We don’t want to give them a game — that would give them a ton of confidence,” Thompson said. “Now the goal is to go steal one in Houston.”
The outcome of Game 2 did more than prevent a confidence surge by the Rockets — it tilted the series dramatically in the Warriors’ favor. Only 20 teams in league history have recovered to win a series after dropping the first two games.
The Warriors are 15-2 all-time in the postseason after starting a series 2-0, including 11-1 in the five-year Steve Kerr coaching era.
“This is always what you want to do. When you have homecourt, if you can get the first two, it puts you in good shape, with the awareness that you’re just getting started, nothing has happened yet,” Kerr said. “We got to go down to Houston and be ready to play because we know how good they are, we know how hard they’re going to play.”
On the way to capturing the 2017 and ’18 NBA crowns, the Warriors started 2-0 in seven of their eight playoff series. But that does not provide an absolute guarantee.
The Warriors lost to the Lakers in the 1969 Western Conference semifinals after winning twice to open the series in Los Angles.
And they famously lost the 2016 NBA Finals to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers after winning the first two games at home on the way to establishing a 3-1 series lead. That’s the only postseason series the Warriors have lost in 17 tries under Kerr.
But it can happen. The Cavaliers recovered from an 0-2 start to beat Boston in the 2018 playoffs, the Celtics did the same thing to Chicago the year before, and Portland rallied past the Clippers in 2016.
That’s four times in four seasons a team has fought back from an 0-2 start to win in the postseason. Not that the Warriors need any further reminders or motivation.
“Houston is a great team and they play great at home,” reserve forward Jonas Jerebko said. “Now we can go to Houston and feel good about ourselves. But we’re (only) halfway there.”
Thompson countered the suggestion that the heat is now on the Rockets.
“Honestly, we’re the favorite, so they might have pressure but they really have nothing to lose. I think they’re going to play like that,” he said. “We’ve got to go down to Houston for Game 3 and set the tone early, not relax.
“It’s human nature, up 2-0, to relax. But this team is too good to give them a game.”