Led by their MVP, the Golden State Warriors took a commanding 3-0 lead over the Houston Rockets with a 115-80 win on Friday and are poised to close out the series in Game 4.
Rockets vs. Warriors 2015 final score: 3 things we learned from Golden State’s dominant win
Curry dazzled and the Warriors rolled past the Rockets on Saturday.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Stephen Curry was sensational, hitting all sorts of nonsense shots, mixing jumpers from the stratosphere and crazy layups that gently nestled their way into the hoop. He finished with 40 points on 12-of-19 shooting, including seven three-pointers, seven assists and five rebounds.
After back-to-back games where he was nearly equally as good, James Harden didn't have it on Game 3, finishing with 17 points on 3-of-16 shooting. The Rockets also struggled from behind the arc, missing 20 of their 25 attempts, leading to the Warriors' easy victory.
Golden State jumped in front early and never let up. They led 30-18 after a quarter and had a 25-point halftime advantage, winning all four quarters. While the Rockets did rattle off a remarkable comeback down 3-1 to the Los Angeles Clippers last series, no NBA team has ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit.
Here are three things we learned.
1. The Rockets had no chance this game
Give them credit: they aren't supposed to be here. The Clippers had them on the ropes and Houston has sustained the loss of two starters, something it's been able to fight through for a while but is finally catching up in this series. In Games 1 and 2, the Rockets played the Warriors well and could have won one or both games, but on Saturday Golden State was too much. That's not to say this series would end any differently if Houston had Donatas Motiejūnas or Patrick Beverley, but it would certainly give the team a fighting chance, something they don't really have now.
2. The scary thing is that the Warriors could have played better
Harrison Barnes, Klay Thompson, Shaun Livingston and Leandro Barbosa all combined to shoot 9-of-34 from the floor. Admittedly, there's some unfair playing with stats there, since that was mostly generated from Barnes' 0-of-9, but it's still telling (to me, at least) that the team's fourth-leading scorer didn't make a basket and Golden State still won by 35. They're a truly terrifying team.
3. More proof Steph is using cheat codes
In Game 3 of the conference finals, with at minimum four games left, Curry broke the record for most three-pointers made in a single postseason. And he didn’t just break it -- he broke it with a long-range missile from open waters. LOOK AT THIS:
That was Curry’s 59th three-pointer of the postseason, breaking Reggie Miller’s record of 58. Of course, Curry proceeded to nail five more triples in this game alone and legitimately could hit 100 before the playoffs end. Even if he doesn’t, consider this record completely shattered.
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