On his way to the shower, Stephen Jackson started chirping to the media.
“Y’all had y’all loss stories ready, huh? Don’t lie. Y’all was ready to write about a loss.”
To be honest, I wasn’t. Nor was my colleague, S.F. Chronicle’s Janny Hu. We both were talking about how we expected the Warriors to pull it out and had already started writing. Even the scout next to me predicted the Warriors would win. Partly because the way the Warriors were playing, partly because Houston looked awful.
With that said, I was still blown away with how they won. I figured they would start making shots, Houston would make mistakes and Baron Davis would come up with the necessary plays.
But it was unbelievable how they just dominated. Jackson missed like 10 straight shots. All of a sudden he was on fire. BD, again, just decided to take over and there was no one who could stop him. He had 10 points and four assists in the fourth quarter (he had 10 points and three assists in the final period Sunday in Denver). He would’ve had six or seven assists Monday if the NBA did the hockey assist.
They were playing as if they knew it was a matter of time. Someone would take a 3-pointer, and two or three other players would hold their hand in the air, expecting it to fall. It was like three minutes left, and they were celebrating like the game was over. And it was.
They outrebounded Houston by 13. All but Andris Biedrins had at least two assists. The Warriors had 26 second-chance points of 15 offensive rebounds.
These stats show grit, team chemistry, resolve. It was impressive.