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Two veteran coaches had a similar message for their teams on the eve of Game 4 of the Western Conference finals between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.
"It starts 0-0," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Game 4. "It doesn't matter if we won (the previous game) by one or 41."In fact, the Warriors did win Game 3 on Sunday by 41 points, 126-85, to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven.The margin of victory not only was the largest in Warriors postseason history, but the margin of defeat also was the biggest ever for a team that won 65 or more games in the regular season.
Stephen Curry, who had missed 17 of his 20 3-point attempts in the first 10 quarters of the series, sent the Warriors' home crowd into a frenzy by making 4 of 5 in the second half Sunday en route to 35 points.It was a performance that brought back memories to Kerr of the Boston Celtics' Danny Ainge.
"I don't remember what I had for breakfast, but I remember what Danny Ainge said 30 years ago," Kerr warned. "They won a playoff game by 40, and he said, 'This is not the Tour de France. You don't start with a big lead because it's not based on time or how much you won by.'"It's the NBA, so it's 2-1 (in the series). So doesn't matter what happened (Sunday). We have to be ready for a great team that's going to come out like they did in Game 2, attacking, hair on fire and taking the force to us, and we have to be ready for that."
The Rockets' margin of defeat Sunday was almost identical to the number of fewer points scored by Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker and Trevor Ariza in Game 3 than in Game 2.Key members of the James Harden/Chris Paul supporting cast -- Gordon, Tucker and Ariza -- combined for 23-of-33 shooting and contributed 68 points to a 127-105 series-evening home win in Game 2.On Sunday, they went a combined 8 of 24 and 23 points in the blowout loss.
Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni wasn't singling out anyone when he assessed the Game 3 performance.
"We didn't bring our best game," he observed. "But I'm hoping for the best (in Game 4). I hope we play great and them bad. Never know."The loss was the Rockets' fourth of the postseason. They rebounded with wins after each of the first three, romping by an average of 20.7 points.This time, they'll be up against a Warriors team that has won an NBA-record 16 straight playoff games at home.
D'Antoni went as far as to say the pressure is on the Warriors, who would hand the home-court advantage back to Houston with a loss in Game 4."I hope so," Kerr reacted to his rival's statement. "We're much better when the pressure's on. He's right. We're at home, so if they win, they have home-court advantage. So, yeah, pressure's on us. It's kind of on them, too."
"[My mother Sonya] already sent me two home videos, showing me the clip and playing it back," Curry toldESPN. "She was telling me how I need to wash my mouth out, saying to wash it out with soap. It's a message I've heard before."
The two-time MVP, a devout Christian, agreed his language was uncalled for and vowed to do better. But Curry’s teammates and the supporters of the Bay Area side would have been delighted to see their star player back in his groove as they prepare for Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.
“She’s right,” the Warriors point guard added. “I gotta do better. I can’t talk like that.”
Curry also spoke at length about his poor form in the finals and revealed that the bucket he landed in his first attempt in the third quarter of Game 3 had a massive impact on how the rest of the game went.
The 30-year-old struggled in the first two games with his shooting having gone a combined 2-for-13 in three-point attempts and it looked like his poor form was continuing into Game 3 as he was 1-for-7 in three-point attempts in the first-half.
However, it all changed in the third-quarter as he shot 18 points making all his seven field goal attempts ending the night 13-for-23. Curry admitted that it was frustrating, but was clear that at no point did he lose his confidence with regards to getting back to making buckets consistently.
“It was big,” Curry said referring to him making the shot in his first attempt in the third quarter, as quoted by the Express. “It was frustrating more so because I had the right intentions in the first half. I think I shot five wide open threes that only one of them went in.”
“I always say, you never lose confidence. I knew, keep searching in the right ways to find some openings and things would work."
“I got the first lay of the third quarter, got to the free-throw line and the and-one and saw the ball go in. From there, I was just in the right place at the right time,” he added.
