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OAKLAND — The inquiry started with a statement.
“At some point, somebody up there has to tell the truth,” a reporter said. “I ain’t expecting it. But I do look forward to it.”
By then, Warriors guard Stephen Curry raised his head and squinted his eyes. Warriors forward Draymond Green smiled.
Curry pointed out, “that’s pretty smooth.” Green chimed in, “that was brilliant, man,” before shaking his head dismissively. Curry nodded and added, “that was good.” Green did not apparently feel the same way: “Kind of sucks you’re reading it. It’s cool, though.”
The inquiry then ended with a question surrounding the No. 2 seeded Warriors meeting the top-seeded Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals beginning with Game 1 on Monday in Houston.
“With that being said, with the Rockets having all that talk and narrative of what they have been saying about you guys,” the reporter continued, “did you guys at all want them as much as you, with them having said all that this season?”
Both Curry and Green looked and sounded exasperated.
“We don’t have to say nothing,” Curry said. “What are we doing?”
Curry then turned to Green, who expressed his indifference with more fiery passion.
“We won two championships in three years. We don’t have to run around talking about how bad we want to play somebody. We want to win another no championship and it don’t matter who is in the way of that. If you in the way of that, then you happen to be in the way,” Green said. “We’re not about to run around like, “Yeah, we want to play them in the Conference Finals.” For what? It don’t matter to us who we play. However, we got them, all right? Now let’s get it. We get to it now. But it makes no sense for us to run around [saying], ‘We want them as bad as they want us.’ For what? Right?”
Green made his point. But the Warriors outspoken forward continued to elaborate with the kind of force that made him the first player in Warriors history to average a triple double in a playoff series (14.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 10.0 assists in semifinals against New Orleans through five games in the Western Conference semifinals).
“That, honestly, don’t make much sense to me. We got a goal, and whoever is in the way of that goal, then we got to see you,” Green said. “You got to see us. All right, now they’re in the way. Perfect. But we ain’t running around talking about, ‘Man, I can’t wait, like we want them bad.’ No, we want a championship bad, another one. That’s the truth.”
Curry then pounded his fist on the table as if Green dropped the microphone. That moment did not happen just yet, though.
“You wasn’t expecting it, but you looked forward to it,” Green said. “You got it.”
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That nearly two-minute exchange captured the Warriors’ season-long feelings about the Rockets. They respect that Houston acquired Chris Paul, PJ Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute to pair with James Harden last offseason in hopes to dethrone the defending champions. Yet, the Warriors believe they have a more talented roster with Curry, Green, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. The Warriors are mindful the Rockets beat them two out of three regular-season matchups. But they don’t believe regular-season apathy and injuries on Oct. 17 and Jan. 20 have any correlation beginning May 14 when Warriors plan to have a fully healthy roster and compete with playoff intensity.
So when Rockets center Clint Capela told ESPN that the Rockets are “better” than the Warriors in January, the Warriors maintained they hardly care about those comments in May.
“That’s all fine and dandy in January,” Green said dismissively. “But now, you got, you know, they got us, we got them. Got to go out there and play. We’ll see who’s better.”
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The Warriors believe they are better because of their recent championship history (two NBA titles in three years) and proven roster (four All-Stars). As they became the second team in NBA history to reach the Western Conference Finals for four consecutive seasons, however, the Warriors are strikingly similar to Houston
Both teams finished with the NBA’s best playoff record (8-2). While the Warriors (110) and the Rockets (109.5) posted nearly identical total points per game, the Warriors shoot 46.9 percent from the field while the Rockets shoot 44.6 percent overall. While the Rockets concede fewer points per game (100.1) than Golden State (101.6), the Warriors lead the NBA in defensive field-goal percentage (43 percent) while Houston fares 10th out of 16 NBA playoff teams (45.9 percent). The Warriors also finished second in the NBA in total rebounds (48.5), while Houston ranked seventh (43.8).
A similar story emerged on the Warriors and Rockets’ stars. Harden (28.5) has a slight edge over Durant (28.0) in points per game. Capela (12.2) fares slightly better over Green (11.5) in rebounds per contest. Green (9.0) has averaged more assists than Harden (7.4) and Paul (6.4), though that bodes higher than the numbers that Durant (5.0) and Curry (3.5) have posted.
Still, the Warriors sounded intrigued about starting a playoff series on the road for the first time since facing the Clippers in the first round of the 2014 NBA playoffs. Green’s eyes lit up on the prospect of stealing a road game.
“I kind of forget that feeling. But we’re definitely looking forward to it. This is a great opportunity for us,” Green said. “When you’re going on the road, the mindset is to go get one game. Hopefully you can do that in Game 1. But. nonetheless, that is going to be our mindset. I’m looking forward to the opportunity for us to go start a series somewhere else and not so much where we’re at home, protecting and just trying not to give up a game. We got a couple swings to go in there and take one. I’m looking forward to that.”
The Warriors are also looking forward toward proving their regular-season matchups against the Rockets meant nothing.
The Warriors lost their season-opener against Houston on Oct. 17, but that coincided with an injury to veteran Andre Iguodala (strained back) and a fourth-quarter absence to Green (left knee). The Warriors also lost to Houston on Jan. 20, but that coincided with Curry and Thompson combining to shoot an uncharacteristic 7-of-20 mark from the field. The Warriors also beat Houston on Jan. 4, but that game featured neither Harden nor Durant because of injuries.
“I never really thought about that, to be honest,” Durant said of playing against the Rockets. “It’s tough enough every day to get up and work on your game and go through practice and go through shootarounds and traveling and all that stuff. I just try to focus on the present as much as I can, and I’m sure it’s the same for my teammates.”
It is also the same for Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
“We know they are a great team,” Kerr said. “We know they are ready and we’ll be ready for them.”
That hinges on a few variables.
Thompson stressed the need to play perimeter defense without fouling. While it is a given the Warriors will need production from Curry, Thompson, Durant and Green, Kerr called on his reserves in Nick Young, Jordan Bell and Quinn Cook to prepare for heightened roles. And with Kerr’s refusal to disclose his starting lineup for Game 1, it appears possible he will experiment with various combinations game-to-game.
Will this mark the Warriors’ toughest playoff series since squandering a 3-1 series lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 NBA Finals?
“Every series you play, it gets harder and harder and harder,” Curry said. “So following that trend, for sure.”
That explains why Kerr often tells his players, “it’s why you pour Champagne on your head after you walk in the locker room after a championship because of how hard it is every step of the way.” After traveling this same journey for the past three years, though, the Warriors seemed unfazed about the Rockets standing in their path.
“We’ve been there,” Curry said. “We know what to do. Time to do it.”
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