To Edge Rockets, Curry and Warriors Needed Every Sort of Home-Court Advantage
OAKLAND, Calif. — Sometimes, home-court advantage detonates in a buzzer-beating moment of exultation.
Sometimes, home-court advantage occurs back in the shadows, some comfort zone affecting something in the game in a way that can't be quantified.
Stephen Curry enjoyed some of the subtle perks of having home-court advantage right after the Golden State Warriors took a 2-0 Western Conference Finals lead over the Houston Rockets late Thursday night.
Curry chowed down a plate of lamb chops that appeared out of somewhere and had his teammates a little jealous. He indulged singer and now music pastor Montell Jordan's plea to meet and grab a photo with Curry in the hall. Most notably for all the new Riley Curry fans, Steph puckered up bigger than Marilyn Monroe ever did for his first postgame kiss with his 2-year-old daughter, who was comfy in Grandpa Dell's arms instead of clamoring for another media session.
Of course, the home court was a tangible factor in actually winning the game, 99-98, too.
Would James Harden, with the support of his fans on a night he was this hot, ever pass the ball in a panic the way he did on the last possession? If Harden were in Houston, wouldn't he, upon getting the ball back, have had the poise to get a final shot up at his home basket?
"It hurts," Harden said. "But they did what they had to do. They won two games at home. We're going back home to get two games."
The Warriors are up in this series, partly because they got difference-making efforts from Shaun Livingston in Game 1 and from Andrew Bogut on Thursday night—the sort of outings that happen far more often for role players comfortable at home.
They are up mostly because Curry downed 11 three-pointers on 22 attempts in the two games, totaling 47 points on 60.5 percent field-goal shooting. No one in NBA history has ever had more than five games with at least five threes in a postseason, and Curry has done it in four consecutive games.
The only reason Houston was close at the end of Game 2 was because it double-teamed Curry all the way out to midcourt and other Warriors missed open looks to leave the door open.
There were some blatant defensive breakdowns by Houston along the way, but there were also quick-release, not-quite-set and contested bombs from Curry that served as gut punches.
Curry's step-back moonball from in front of Houston's bench and over 6'9" Terrence Jones' solid defense for a 98-90 lead with 1:39 left was just enough in the end. And as Rockets coach Kevin McHale said later, it was the sort of shot his team has to live with Curry taking.
Kobe Bryant, though, countered that with a valid point on Twitter after the game:
Bryant is one who certainly knows. The benefit of practicing tough shots is twofold.
One, you prepare for the degree-of-difficulty moments, especially in the playoffs, when superstars must create offense out of thin air against the shot clock when opponents become well-versed in what team offense will be run.
Two, if your shot is as good as Curry's, it keeps you from being bored. He fired up a nearly no-look, twisting half-court shot after an over-and-back violation Thursday night that was close enough to draw oohs.
Curry is a master at the slight adjustment of his form. He is an outstanding golfer, and his arm-straight-up shooting stroke is borne out of that sort of same-every-time consistency. A lot of times, Curry's three-point ball leaves his hand looking so seamless it's like a layup.
But then there are those tough shots that Bryant is referring to, ones that require creativity and conviction in equal parts.
Curry's pregame shooting routine includes plenty of three-point shots, some skewed for game application by flaring out for catch-and-shoot chances. He starts out, though, by working on the one-legged, one-handed runners or one-handed scoop shots that aren't easy but end up looking easy for him over or around shot-blockers in the game.
How he ends his pregame shooting drill is where it gets really interesting.
For the past two years, Oracle Arena security guard Curtis Jones, 63, has been whipping underhand passes from the edge of the court back to Curry in the tunnel toward the Warriors locker room.
To wrap Curry's home-shooting ritual, Curry tries, usually between one and three times—depending on how he feels or if he makes it—to nail a shot from about 20 feet off the right corner of the court at such a severe angle that Curry stands about 10 steps to the right of where an extended baseline would be and has to avoid the backboard.
Curry didn't make the shot before Game 1, a teammate's untimely practice shot getting in the way of one that looked good. Curry still ran up to give Jones a hug for the help before retreating for final preparations in the locker room.
Curry did make the shot before Game 2, as I captured and the NBA's Vine account shared:
Jones said Curry had a streak of making the shot in five consecutive pregames about a month ago. The ritual has become a staple of Jones' life, and he prides himself on having never thrown a bad pass to Curry.
"I'm pretty accurate," he said. "I eat really well. I try to stay fit."
But Jones is no fool.
"Once he gets the ball in his hand, it's all about him," Jones said.
Full disclosure: I was chatting with Jones when Curry came off the court to finish his warm-up Thursday night. He looked at us and saw Jones getting interviewed.
Perhaps that played into Curry taking some extra shots to support Jones' story. Jones said Curry rarely tries four times in a night—and never five.
On this night, though, after Curry's fourth shot just missed, he tried again. He made it—and made Jones look good.
They shook hands the way they always do, and Curry was on his way—moving on to envision making shots in the game. They don't really talk and aren't really friends, this security guard 13 years older than Curry's father, though Jones dreams of them maybe having lunch one day.
What Jones knows for sure is that it doesn't make sense for Dwight Howard or Andrew Bogut to do this, but there is true value in Curry practicing tricky shots.
Remember the 62-footer Curry sank from the opposite three-point arc in the close-out game against the Memphis Grizzlies? The two-hand release sure looked familiar to someone.
"I wasn't surprised that he made the shot. I'm serious," Jones said. "He shot it with the same exact motion but with a little more torque on it, and it kept going and going."
Compared to the shot from the tunnel, almost anything else in the game isn't so hard. Asked after the Game 2 victory about his shooting, Curry said, "You put a lot of hard work into your craft, and when you rely on that work, you kind of are in the moment. And those shots, when you rise up to take them, it feels natural—it feels normal. I feel confident."
In the end, the Splash Brothers became the Trap Brothers, with Curry and Klay Thompson forming a timely defensive double-team to stop Harden. Curry roared and reveled in celebration with Golden State's fans as their 130th consecutive home sellout game ended with emotional release.
The Warriors are now 45-3 at home this season, and Houston is still going to have to win here to win this series. The same goes for Cleveland or Atlanta if Golden State reaches the NBA Finals.
This is where all the home rituals work for the Warriors, though.
And the most basic ritual is that they find a way to win.
Kevin Ding covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @KevinDing.
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