Warriors held up their end and stood on the Rockets' chest in Game 1

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The worst thing about Game 1 of any series is that people think it foretells the future, but that’s the fault of people, not the series.

But recency bias stops becoming bias after Game 2 when Game 2 resembles Game 1, and that is the task of the Golden State Warriors Wednesday in Houston.

The Warriors spotted the Rockets eight minutes Monday night – the first eight minutes. Draymond Green got a technical for overmodulation 67 seconds and change into the game, and his teammates missed five of their first seven shots.

After that, well, you know what happened. Even the tinfoil hat brigade who thought official Scott Foster would beat the Warriors by himself because they remember an unpleasant game in Portland long ago had to surrender their conspiracy theories to reality by the early third quarter. Klay Thompson got the looks he needed, Kevin Durant didn’t even need looks, and Golden State simply efficient-ed Houston to death.

They are now 14-1 in Game 1s, 11-3 in Game 2s, 7-7 in game 3s and 8-6 in Game 4s. They are also 9-1 in Game 5, 3-1 in Game 6 and 1-1 in Game 7. What this tells us is that they win 85 percent of the time at home, typically by large margins, and can lose a bit of interest and want-to when they hit the road.

But this series is unlike all the others. They bring their ability to make an early statement to Houston, and if form holds, they will go home for Games 3 and 4 with every reason to finish this with the same ruthless efficiency.

And the only reason not to think this is how things will play out is the notion that Houston is too good to be run out of their building twice.

This idea flies in the face of the dismissive tone America took after Game 1, in which Durant, Thompson and the more quiescent Green took command when the game turned in the third quarter. The entire postseason had been framed with this as the centerpiece series, but Game 1 just sort of...well, sat there.

It reinforced the notion that the Warriors are oppressive when inspired, and that teams do not catch the Warriors as much as the Warriors allow themselves to be caught. James Harden got 41 and Chris Paul 23 and 11 rebounds, but the rest of the Rockets were hardly noticeable. That will not do if the centerpiece is to avoid being shoved aside for the green beans and yams.

In short, this series has gotten off to a poor start if drama and elite basketball is your end game. The Warriors held up their end, but in doing so stood on the Rockets’ chest. If that is the way this series is to play out, we’ll have built up a very tall building only to have it Jenga’d out in five moves, tops.

 

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