Golden State Warriors Have Houston Rockets on the Ropes After Just 1 Game

OAKLAND, Calif. — Steve Kerr has the highest winning percentage of any head coach in NBA history, so we’ll forgive him for his dead-wrong prediction ahead of Game 1 between the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets.

"This is going to be hard," Kerr said roughly 90 minutes before the opening tip of a 104-78 win.

If that was hard, imagine what easy is going to look like.

The Dubs were brilliant—running, moving the ball and playing with the ease and freedom that were often missing during their stretch-run push toward 73 wins. They were locked in defensively too, limiting the Rockets to 78 points on 35.7 percent shooting while forcing 24 turnovers.

Offensive flow and defensive discipline combined in playoff-ready fashion.

"Very satisfied," Kerr said afterward. "I thought our defense was excellent...that was a good, solid victory."

Victory?

Abject demolition? Trash compaction? Merciless embarrassment? They all work.

It Takes Two for a Blowout

Houston was complicit in its own demise.

James Harden didn't attempt a single free throw in the game—the first time that had happened in his last 148 games (playoffs included), per ESPN Stats & Info.

Sloppy switches in the half court and lazy recoveries in transition allowed Golden State whatever it wanted. The Rockets opted out of everything that opponents did this season to slow the Warriors down. Running snipers off their marks, taking care of the ball and fighting to prevent breakaways?

Nope. No, thanks.

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The Warriors went 10-of-25 from deep and piled up 21 points in transition.

What the Rockets did—bark at one another after missed assignments and bumbled possessions—was both expected and damning.

If anyone was looking for proof these Rockets didn't spend the season hating each other, this game failed to provide it. Dirty looks after surrendered buckets and multiple voices shouting at one another in the huddle (Josh Smith and Patrick Beverley sang a particularly discordant duet during a second-quarter timeout after the Dubs had expanded the lead to 54-30) conspicuously advertised the Rockets' dysfunction.

Houston's chippiness was not confined to its own bench.

The inevitable dust-up between Beverley and Curry came midway through the first quarter, with the two becoming entangled following a Beverley foul on the perimeter. Curry, who is generally slow to anger, responded out of character, shoving Beverley away. Metta World Peace, seated a few rows behind the Rockets' bench, would have been proud of both combatants.

Draymond Green, who happily occupies the role of enforcer/shouter-in-chief/physicality coordinator, knew the physicality was coming and had no problem with it.

"A guy like Pat, you kind of grow to expect that," Green said. "That's how he's made his way in this league, and you have to have respect for a guy who's got his contract, but he still plays the exact same way."

Green's stance isn't surprising. He's pretty into the whole intensity thing.

Following double technicals, the MVP responded in familiar fashion, leading Golden State on a furious charge against the faltering Rockets. When the dust settled on the first quarter, the Warriors held a 33-15 advantage.

Curry, with 16 in the period, outscored Houston on his own. He finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and two assists on 8-of-13 shooting.

In just 20 minutes.

Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Silver Linings

The only thing that went wrong for the Warriors came at the end of the first half, when Curry tweaked his right ankle on a shot attempt over Dwight Howard. He hobbled to the locker room before halftime, and Golden State took a 60-33 lead into the break. When he stopped short on a drive with 9:13 left in the third quarter, clearly hurting, Golden State's hefty advantage meant Kerr had the luxury of sitting him down.

"To me, it wasn't anything that was going to keep me out," Curry said. "Coach made a decision, regardless of what I had to say."

Curry explained he tried "three separate times" to convince Kerr to let him return but was "0-of-3. Swung and missed."

Kerr termed Curry "questionable" for Game 2.

The Warriors were outscored when Curry sat this season, per NBA.com, and they looked visibly disjointed when he limped to the locker room in the third quarter. He departed with a 26-point lead, and after that initial stumble, the rest of the Dubs carried on without him, only giving back five points of that advantage in the period.

Even if the Warriors have to soldier on for a game or two without their best player, they're confident.

"We have the blueprint, New Year's Eve I think it was," Green said, referring to a 114-110 win at Houston without Curry. "So it's happened before. Not that it's going to be easy, but we know we can do it if we have to."

Based on Curry's postgame gait and the general lack of concern from him, Green and Kerr, it seems unlikely the Warriors will have to test their Steph-less selves for more than one game, if that. And against this Rockets team, the threat level is practically nonexistent.

Just the Beginning

During his pregame comments, Kerr was talking in big-picture terms. And he had every reason to float reminders of the difficult road ahead. His team occasionally played down to the competition this season, assuming the role of its own worst enemy through turnovers and diluted focus. More than that, Kerr knew his team—drained by a two-year journey that included more than 100 games last season and the pressure-packed pursuit of 73 wins in 2015-16—might be at something of an energy deficit.

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

So he said what he could to keep complacency from adding to the problem.

Maybe it worked.

Or maybe it didn't even have to. 

Maybe all it took was a fresh start and a renewed, simpler objective. Now distraction-free and in pursuit of just one thing, a title, the version of the Warriors we saw in Game 1 resembled the untethered Dubs who ran off a 24-0 start and obliterated opponents gleefully through Christmas.

These are those Warriors.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

And if you're the Rockets, you don't have many options going forward. Houston went small to start, slotting Trevor Ariza and Corey Brewer at the forward spots. It was a curious strategy in theory, as most opponents who bothered the Warriors last postseason did it with size.

In practice, it failed miserably.

But trotting out a more lumbering lineup will only unlock the Warriors' preferred pick-and-roll sets with Curry and Green.

Golden State solved big lineups eventually last year. It cracked Houston's small one immediately, which leaves both the Rockets and future opponents with nowhere to turn.

Saying 73 wins was just the beginning isn't fair; it cheapens an achievement that was a remarkable end in itself.

But during that record chase, it always felt like the Warriors were straining, pulling themselves in two directions. The title chase was always first, but it eventually wasn't the only goal.

Things are simpler now—easier even.

It's the rest of the West playoff field that will find the next few weeks hard.

Follow @gt_hughes on Twitter.

Quotes obtained firsthand.