Getty Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.
Over the years, the Golden State Warriors have had plenty of great battles. The most obvious of the bunch were their Finals games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they also ran into some other great teams. One of those teams was the James Harden-led Houston Rockets.
Golden State took on the new-look Rockets on Monday night in a hard-fought game. In the fourth quarter, however, the Warriors blew the game open and picked up the victory. After the game, head coach Steve Kerr spoke about what it’s like to play in the building where they had so many awesome battles. He name-dropped Draymond Green and the other members of the Big 3 in the process.
“This is a great reminder. Every time we come to the Toyota Center of some amazing battles with those great Rockets teams,” Kerr said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “A lot of big games in here. I think Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson] and Draymond, those three guys, in particular, come in here with a lot of memories. And I do think that helps get guys kind of excited and motivated. So, I thought they all did a nice job tonight.”
On Monday against the Rockets, Green put up some solid stats while helping lead Golden State to a win. The Warriors forward ended the night with eight points, seven rebounds, and seven assists on 4-of-4 shooting from the field.
Meanwhile, the other two members of the Warriors’ Big 3 carried the load in the scoring column. Curry put up 30 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals on 10-of-23 shooting from the floor and 5-of-15 shooting from beyond the three-point arc. As for Thompson, he finished the game with 29 points, seven rebounds, and one assist on 11-of-21 shooting from the field and 5-of-13 shooting from behind the three-point line.
Klay Thompson Name-Drops Stephen Curry
As mentioned, the Warriors broke through in the fourth quarter, dominating the Rockets in the final frame. After the game, Thompson spoke about what went right for Golden State in the last quarter, giving Curry credit for his play.
“I think we didn’t foul. And when we can just get the ball off the rim and go, it opens up everything for us,” Thompson said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “Then, on top of that, we had some great shot-making from Anthony Lamb, and Big K [Jonathan Kuminga] made a nice mid-range move, and Steph obviously doing his thing. But yeah, those were the big components of the fourth quarter surge.”
Stephen Curry Sounds Off on Klay Thompson
On a similar note, Curry also showed love to Thopmson post-game. When discussing how the Warriors were able to earn the win, he gave his co-star credit for nailing a clutch late-game bucket.
“Having 14 turnovers in the first half was rough,” Curry said via the NBA Interviews YouTube channel. “We could never really create enough separation. And then [in the] second half, we were a little bit more mindful. I think we only had four turnovers and got decent shots. We didn’t make as many as we wanted to, but we got stops. Ran in transition. Played pretty disciplined. They made a little run. We got a little sloppy for two minutes there down the stretch but got back to good offense [and] connecting the game. Klay hits a big shot. And somebody else hit a shot. But it was just mindful basketball that we needed to finish strong.”