Lowell Cohn: Stephen Curry, Warriors won't be pushed around

OAKLAND

At 6:31 of the first quarter of the Warriors’ playoff assassination of the ridiculous Rockets, Houston guard Patrick Beverley almost killed Stephen Curry.

Beverley was guarding Curry, who had the ball. He grabbed Curry’s arms and arm-locked Curry like they were two guys fighting over a wallet in a New York alley.

Beverley continued to arm-wrestle Curry long after the whistle blew. If there had not been more than 19,000 witnesses present, he might have whipped out a club and cracked Curry’s skull.

Taking umbrage at this anti-social treatment, Curry gave Beverley one hell of a chest shove. It was the first time I ever saw Curry steaming mad. First time I ever saw him shove someone. The officials called Beverley for a foul. Then called both players for technical fouls - a Double T.

I just want to say - good for Stephen Curry. Looks like an angel and plays like one, but a player cannot take that kind of abuse and keep his self-respect. Or his standing. Curry had to push back hard. Send a message loud and clear to Beverley and the sad-sack Rockets. He will take matters into his own hands.

Let’s be brutally clear. The overmatched Rockets did what losers do. They turned basketball into a street fight. That was their primary strategy in the first playoff game of the first playoff round. They saw Curry as fragile - wrong - and their “ideology,” pure and simple, was to beat him up, make him emotional, take him out of his game. It was their only chance. To intimidate him. Good luck with that.

Their make-a-fight-of-it strategy was a loser’s strategy and a miserable strategy and, frankly, a contemptible strategy. Beverley wasn’t the only one - these guys were dirty and they were looking for a fight.

Josh Smith knocked down Curry and looked at an official like, “Who me?” Purely a pro wrestling maneuver, the villain’s maneuver.

One time, James Harden shoved Andre Iguodala under the backboard. Of course, Curry immediately stole the ball from ball-hog Harden and passed ahead to Iguodala for an uncontested layup. Take that.

This was all the Rockets had - being comic-book bad guys. To his credit - yes, credit - Draymond Green knocked down Beverley and looked the other way.

Despite the Rockets’ attempted intimidation of Curry, he outscored the Rockets 16-15 in the first quarter. That’s right. He had 16 points and the swashbuckling losers had 15.

The crowd booed Beverley every time he touched the ball. Funny thing, Beverley had made a point of slapping hands with every Warriors starter just before tipoff. Maybe he’s a nice man who lost his mind when things went bad. Or maybe he’s a phony.

Now, I’ll introduce you to NBA doubletalk. It ranks as some of the best.

I asked Steve Kerr if he objected to Beverley’s treatment of his MVP superstar. Listen to Kerr and please listen skeptically. I’m wild about Kerr but I’m skeptical.

“I didn’t see it. I mean, I wasn’t really locked in on the exchange and haven’t seen the replay, so I don’t really know what happened. But that’s to be expected. Playoffs, both guys are competitive. Good defender. That’s what he does. He tries to get under your skin. He’s doing his job. But I haven’t seen the play.”

To my way of thinking, Kerr told two fibs in that quote. Allowable fibs, but fibs nonetheless.

First Fib: He didn’t see the play. When a football coach says he didn’t see what the right tackle did on a run play and needs to watch the tape, I tend to believe him.

But basketball? Ten guys and one of them has the ball. Kerr didn’t see the play? What was he looking at?

Maybe he suffered a sudden attack of low blood sugar and was signaling for the hot dog man.

Come on. He saw the play. He didn’t want to say what he really and truly thought. Being PC.

Fib Two: It’s playoff basketball. What Beverley and Smith did is not only OK, it’s fabulous and there should be more of it, the playoffs being the ultimate test of manhood after fighting lions and tigers barehanded.

The truth: This was not about playoff basketball. It was about Beverley. The only way he could guard Curry was to rough him up. His only chance. A non-chance. Pathetic.

So, why was Kerr so ultra-diplomatic, and that goes for Green and Shaun Livingston and even Curry - I’ll get to him shortly.

Now things get fascinating.

Kerr did not complain because it would violate the NBA playoff code.

Complaining would make the Warriors whiners. Soft. Like things were too much for them and they needed help from the officials. No way. They would take care of this stuff in-house and on the court.

More Kerr, this time on Curry’s response to Beverley:

“I’ve said this since I’ve been here. Steph comes across as a choirboy, but he’s a competitor, big-time competitor.”

Translation: “Don’t be fooled by how Steph looks. He can handle himself.” Kerr was proud of the shove Curry gave Beverley.

I asked Curry why he pushed Beverley. He eyeballed me a long time. Thinking how to low-key it. Stick to the code.

“Umm,” he said, “there was a little back and forth. We got tangled up and it felt like it was a little too much, so I protected myself and moved on.”

Translation: “I wasn’t going to take that from Beverley. Who does he think I am? I took care of myself and I made my point and got a T and then I murdered him.”

Now that the extreme-fighting strategy hasn’t worked, it will be interesting to see what Houston brings to Game 2 on Monday. Rarely has a playoff team looked this unprepared when it came to the basketball part of things, although the Rockets had worked diligently on their skirmishing.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular, go to the Cohn Zohn at cohn.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.