How Steph Curry went from ice cold to red hot, ended Houston's season

HOUSTON -- The obsession continues, because Stephen Curry and the Warriors insist.

It continues for Houston and its Rockets because, once again, under favorable circumstances, they could not summon the resolve to vanquish the Warriors. Or, rather, Curry and the Warriors set fire to the concept of being vanquished.

After an abysmal first half, during which he usually was the worst player on the court, Curry took the floor with about 10 minutes remaining and immediately began throwing flames into the faces and hearts of the Rockets.

Curry did not stop his Friday night bonfire until he had a team-high 33 points, all of Houston was weeping, the Rockets were little more than a pile of red rubble, and the Warriors were dancing and shouting their way out of Toyota Center with a 118-113 Game 6 victory that sends them to the Western Conference finals for the fifth consecutive year.

“He just completely took over the game,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Curry. “On a night when everything was going wrong, he just completely turned it around.”

Curry was scoreless in 12 first-half minutes, 0 of 5 from the field, 0 of 2 from deep. He committed silly fouls, two inside the first six minutes, sending him to the bench for most of the first quarter. He picked up a third foul, a charge call, with 5:44 left in the second quarter and went back to the bench for the rest of the half.

“At halftime we were tied [57-57] and I had zero points,” Curry said. “You’ve got to like that situation.”

Curry’s teammates -- Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, in particular -- were tremendous in the first half, keeping the Warriors close when logic dictated that perhaps they shouldn’t have been. They were without Kevin Durant, who was back in the Bay Area with a calf injury. Without DeMarcus Cousins, on the bench in street clothes.

Scanning his bench for anyone who might help, Kerr for the first time this postseason went through the roster 11 deep, parceling out meaningful minutes to every able body except rookie guard Jacob Evans III.

“I knew in a 48-minute game, there would be a moment when I could really turn it on,” Curry said. “In the second half, just tried to not pick up a fourth [foul] early and then couple shots go down and you start to see the floor a little bit and understand what they’re doing differently, defensively.

“And then floodgates opened.”

Curry scored 10 points in the third quarter, which ended with the Rockets up 87-82. He was 3 of 12 at that point, saving his best for the fourth.

Entering with 9:57 remaining, Curry scored 23 points in less than 10 minutes, making 6 of 8 from the field, including 3 of 5 from beyond the arc. He took eight free throws and made them all. He committed no turnovers.

“He just went on the attack, and then from there, he just went into a zone,” Andre Iguodala said before mimicking a sparring boxer. “He hit ‘em with the jab, like ‘Huh! Huh!’ And they were like, ‘Oh, s—t.’ And then, that last one he had, I was like god dang.”

That last one was a 27-foot 3-ball that gave the Warriors a 107-102 lead, equaling their biggest in the half, with 1:28 remaining. It silenced the crowd, with many heading for the exits. A Thompson triple with 36.1 seconds knocked down the Rockets, and Curry drained eight free throws over the final 31 seconds.

“Steph down the stretch was incredible,” Green said. “Everything we did the whole fourth quarter was around him.”

Curry and Green leaned hard on the high pick-and-roll in the fourth quarter, repeatedly burning the Rockets. This strategy was the root source of most of the Warriors’ 36 points in the quarter.

Once again, for the second consecutive season and the fourth in the last five, the Warriors had ousted the Rockets, who have openly acknowledged their obsession with beating them.

“This one’s going to leave a mark,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “This is not just something you get over with. I’m definitely not going to get over it in this press conference or tomorrow or the next night. This one hurts.”

It hurts because this was Houston’s great chance. The Rockets blew a 3-2 series lead to the Warriors last May. They were favored, in the wake of Durant’s injury in Game 5, to go home and tie the series in Game 6, possibly winning it in Game 7 on Sunday in Oakland.

There will be no Game 7 in Oakland. Not in this series. Curry gave the Rockets hope with an ugly first half and torched every fiber of that hope with a searing performance in the second.

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“This is Steph Curry we’re talking about,” Kerr said. “A two-time MVP, three-time champ. He’s a guy who you just know is going get to going. Tonight was sort of the perfect example of who Steph is. He’s going to commit some silly fouls and do some things that make you scratch your head.

“And then he’s going to go ballistic and do things that nobody on earth can do.”