Lowell Cohn: Warriors’ depth comes to fore in Game 2 victory

OAKLAND

Add insult to injury.

The injury part was obvious - Stephen Curry and his right ankle/foot. But it also was an insult game for the Warriors, Game 2 against the Rockets, the Warriors winning 115-106. In fact, it was a double-insult game.

First insult: Media insulted the players by asking, in one form or another, “Can you win this game without Stephen Curry?”

It was a reasonable question and, prescient, as it turns out. Curry did not play in the Warriors’ win against the useless Houston Rockets. Bad ankle. More on that in a moment. But the question was highly insulting. It meant the Warriors are a bunch of chumps who constantly get saved and redeemed by their superstar. It meant they are no good without him, like sidekicks.

Highly insulting.

Considering the Warriors are defending champs, they must have been grinding their teeth and thinking with some bitterness, “Steph is special and we wish we had him. But, you know what, we’re special, too.”

And they are and they were. The Curry-less Warriors were a very good basketball team, clearly out of Houston’s league. They were very good minus Curry. They played hard defense and ran a creative, disciplined offense, and they proved their motto: Strength in Numbers. Even thought they didn’t have their No. 1 strength. Andre Iguodala sank 3s almost like, well, Curry. And Shaun Livingston was perfectly fine, thank you, at point guard.

That’s what being a team means. Loads of talent up and down the roster. Everyone pulling together under duress. Believe me, the Warriors had duress.

Before the game, Curry went out for his usual warm-up. Doing the fancy ball-handling routine. Making a few shots. But when he pushed off his right foot, the surgically-repaired foot, something felt wrong. Duress. He immediately ended his warm-up, turned toward the tunnel and hustled to the locker room. As he left the arena, he shook his head. It was a head shake of extreme displeasure. He would miss the joy of playing, the joy of helping his team.

And this was what the Rockets wanted and needed. Not that they wanted Curry injured. Players respect players. Some have the same agents and played together as teenagers. But the Rockets needed a break. Needed Curry to kiss off or, at least, take a brief sabbatical. The Rockets needed hope. And they got it. Divine intervention, or something like that.

Turns out divine intervention wasn’t enough for these Rockets. Turns out the Warriors didn’t need Curry, after all. They are so well-schooled and they always do what they do. And what they do is good enough, certainly against the Rockets who are allergic to playing defense. Who score a basket and wander back on defense while the Warriors are running full speed. James Harden and Dwight Howard - their stars, their Currys - allow the action to speed past them and they look at the fast-breaking Warriors with a kind of detached boredom.

As bad as you think Harden’s defense is, it’s worse. And Howard is, frankly, a smiling fraud. They have no investment in the hard work of defense. Every single Warrior has an investment. If not, he wouldn’t be a Warrior. Might be a Rocket.

Something to consider with Curry’s injury. The series resumes Thursday in Houston. Maybe the Warriors rest Curry that game. Give him more time. More therapy. Game 4 is Sunday. That allows Curry time. And, as we learned Monday night, the Warriors don’t need Curry to beat Houston.

Something else to consider. And this one is serious. Curry’s injury is mysterious. You can bet the Warriors aren’

He hurt himself in Game 1 when he turned around to run up court and something happened. This curious something occurred when Curry was running straight ahead. He did not roll his ankle, not as far as I could tell. The injury - whatever it is - was a result of running forward. That may be troubling. Or not. Since neither you nor I know what’s going on, hard to know how long he’ll be out. If he will be back for Game 3 or even Game 4. Stay tuned.

Don’t mean to be a drag. Trying to understand the reality of things.

At the start of this column, I mentioned Game 2 was a double-insult game for the Warriors. The second insult was directed at Draymond Green. That’s how the Warriors saw it. On Monday, the league announced Kawhi Leonard as Defensive Player of the Year. Uh-oh.

Leonard is great. No argument here. But so is Green. He defends all five positions from point guard to center. We see him do that all the time. We see him as the standard and, even though Leonard is good, there’s a feeling that awards voters and other players on other teams don’t give the Warriors their proper due. Frankly, that other players on other teams resent the Warriors.

Green was an All-Star. He’s on the defending world champs. And, oh yes, the Warriors set a world record by winning 73 games this season. And Draymond Green is not the Defensive Player of the Year?

Highly suspicious. Not to mention rude.

In Game 2, he played inspired, vicious defense, grabbed a ton of rebounds and set screens that knocked out back molars. Fighting Dwight Howard under the board, fighting hard. Taking swipes at Patrick Beverley whenever he could. Grabbing a rebound and passing ahead to Livingston for a driving layup in the fourth quarter. Ripping the ball out of Michael Beasley’s hands and passing ahead to Iguodala for two points putting the nail in the coffin. Making a point. Making several points.

After the game, Green said, “We held our ground.” True. The Warriors held. Against all odds. Against all insults. Impervious.

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.