NBA scores 2017: Warriors took away the Rockets’ biggest offensive weapon

Golden State’s league-best defense was just important as their offense.

Jan 21, 2017, 2:00 PM UTC

NBA: Golden State Warriors at Houston Rockets

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The Golden State Warriors knew the Houston Rockets had a barrage of three-point attempts headed their way. The Rockets have an entire arsenal of three-point shooters aimed at every team they face, and the Warriors were no different. When the two teams faced on Friday, Houston launched 35 attempts from beyond the arc.

Only seven of them hit.

The Rockets always shoot reckless, quick and contested three-pointers — that’s their style. Another trick they have developed is consistently launching shots deep behind the line. That’s how they’re taking an unprecedented number of threes this season and shattered NBA records as they go. But Houston also thrives on another type of three: normal, open ones. On Friday, Golden State all but took those away in their 125-108 win.

That’s the Warriors. You’ve heard it 100 times now, but while their offense gets most of the attention, their defense is just as good. On Friday, it was clear their plan was to smother the Rockets at the three-point line, forcing them into contested transition triples and isolation stepbacks with the shot clock winding down. Look at James Harden’s 0-of-5 shooting, and Trevor Ariza’s 2-of-8, plus Eric Gordon, and Sam Dekker’s combined 1-of-14. Clearly, it worked.

The Warriors have used a game plan like that all season, though. They currently have the league’s best defense, but they also are the best team in the league at guarding the three-point line. Teams playing Golden State shoot 31.7 percent against them, which is two full percentage points better than the second-best Utah Jazz.

On Friday, the Warriors pushed a lot of Rockets into pump fakes. Because Houston eschews the mid-range, the pump-faker usually drove straight to the basket, where there was always someone meeting him. Sometimes, it was Kevin Durant coming for a weak side block, or sometimes, Zaza Pachulia was taking up space in the middle, forcing the driver to go around him for low percentage layup attempts.

Whatever it was, the Warriors defense remains marvelous. Since they also boast the league’s top offense, this really is the hoops version of “get yourself a man who can do both.” If any team wants to beat Golden State at their own game, it’ll take a lot of scoring and a lot of three-point shooting.

The Rockets still scored 108 points on 45 percent shooting from the field. Even the best defense wasn’t going to totally suffocate them. But the Warriors took away their greatest skill more than anyone has this season, and it worked to perfection.

Sending an SOS to the Raptors

After losing by five points to the 76ers on Wednesday, Toronto had a quick chance to put that embarrassment — even if Philadelphia is surging — behind them. Their Friday matchup against Charlotte seemed like a great place to do it. Instead, they were obliterated, falling by 35 points in a 113-78 defeat.

This one’s hard to explain. Toronto didn’t turn it over excessively, but they were wrecked on the boards. Ultimately, they just missed too many shots, to the tune of 34 percent. Outside of the big three in the starting lineup — Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and Jonas Valanciunas — the rest of the Raptors shot 21 percent.

A couple games back to back are bound to happen for any good NBA team, of course. This isn’t actually a cause for concern. It’s been a poor showing for two days now, no doubt, but it’s nothing a game against the Suns can’t cure.