Benefield: Shaun Livingston steps up in place of Stephen Curry in Game 5 win

OAKLAND - Shaun Livingston led the Golden State Warriors out of the tunnel Wednesday night, then he led them to their 114-81 victory.

But let's be honest. Livingston is the guy nobody wants to see starting because it means Stephen Curry is still out, still injured, still nursing that sprained knee.

In response to that worry, Livington torched the Houston Rockets for the proverbial “I've got this” performance. His first quarter was the closest thing to flawless since, well, Steph Curry.

He was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field in the first quarter and 2-for-2 from the line as the Warriors put the Rockets away before anyone broke a sweat. By halftime, he was still a perfect 6-for-6 for 14 points.

By the third, the game was out of hand. He finished with 16 points on 7 of 8 shooting with three rebounds and three assists.

“He was awesome offensively,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “He took care of the ball.”

If anyone needed a sign that the Warriors would be just fine under Livingston's watch, they need only to have watched his growing confidence as the game wore on.

He took care of the ball, but he also added a little fun --nifty passes and chest thumping his teammates. He even let the refs know he was on the case, jawing a bit about the Rockets' fouls and flops.

With Livingston at the helm, the Warriors ran, they dunked, they played smothering defense. Well, at least I think the defense they played was smothering. It was hard to tell if the Warriors were killing the Rockets or the Rockets just decided to stop breathing and play dead.

J.B. Bickerstaff, the poor soul in charge of the dysfunctional Rockets, promised his team was ready to play. Said publicly before the game that his guys didn't want to go home.

“We're ready to go,” he said.

Apparently the Rockets didn't get the message because most of them played like they had a dinner date back in Houston they didn't want to miss.

James Harden scored 18 of the Rockets 20 first-quarter points. That stat line just oozes heart. Screams grit.

By halftime, Harden had 25, Dwight Howard had six and Michael Beasley and Donatas Motiejunas had two apiece. Harden finished with 35, Howard had eight and Beasley had 11. Motiejunas finished with seven.

“For me, and for all of us, I hope that this was a learning experience,” Bickerstaff said after the game.

He was all praise for the Warriors.

“When Steph goes down, they raise their level of play because one of their brothers has gone down,” he said.

Klay Thompson not only raised his play, in the third quarter he nearly raised the roof off of Oracle with his own personal fireworks display. He finished the game with 27 points on 7-for-11 shooting from behind the arc. He got 14 of his points in the third quarter.

But by that time, the Warriors had already imposed their will on the visitors, played inhospitable hosts and generally made the already-petulant Rockets even more miserable.

But it was Livingston who started the show.

And what makes Livingston's role Wednesday all the better is the guy knows a thing or two about knees. What Curry is going through with his knee, at this juncture of the season, is not likely lost on Livingston.

Livingston knows about what happens when knee parts go where they don't belong, when bits tear that should be whole.

Livingston suffered one of the more gruesome knee injuries in modern memory as a Clipper in 2007. It was so bad there was talk of amputation. But Livingston came back. It took him 18 months, but he came back.

So the fact that he's walking, let alone running the Warriors' show and generally owning anyone in a red jersey Wednesday night is phenomenal.

The fact that he did it when a win would buy Curry, and the Warriors, more time to rest before the second round of the playoffs, was clutch.

“People may forget that if it weren't for the knee injury, he was headed for a superstar career,” Kerr said.

“I have so much respect for him,” he said. “He's just an incredibly mature person and a great teammate.”

When Curry slipped on an oil slick of Motiejunas's sweat Sunday, a cloud of doom seemed to descend over Oracle Arena. How would the Warriors respond without their dynamic star?

If Livingston has a vote, the Warriors will be just fine.

Warriors officials are saying Curry is out two weeks. Unlike the Rockets' Jason Terry, though, they aren't making any guarantees. Medicine is a science, but an unpredictable one.

But after the phenomenal play of Livingston, the Warriors showed they can more than play without Curry. They can razzle. They can dazzle. They can win.

Rest easy, Curry. Rest easy.

You can reach staff columnist Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 at kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com.