NBA: Warriors dominate Game 3: Welcome home, Steph!

With a difference of 41 points, the Golden State Warriors won Game 3 against the Rockets. The hero of the evening was Stephen Curry, who eliminated doubts about his form with a spectacular performance, proving that the impregnable Oracle Arena is still his living room.

About 7 minutes were played in game 3 of the Western Conference Finals, the Warriors were leading 20:19. Kevin Durant looked for one-on-one at the pear with James Harden, passed him into the zone and the Helpside on himself. Outside on the left wing was Stephen Curry, who was served by KD and took a completely open threesome. Clearly over.

But Kevon Looney took the offensive rebound, Curry was still no defender. He took advantage of that and placed himself in the corner, Looney played the ball to him conscientiously instead of going up to the putback himself. Again the completely free threesome from the simplest position – too far.

In a later repetition of the action, Curry let his head hang after this second throw and shook it resignedly while he was running back. Understandably so, despite an early threesome from the (other) corner, he had not yet found a rhythm again.

At half-time, he was out of the field with a meager 9 points and 1/7 goals – which is why the discussions about his form and health continued. Oh yes: The Rockets continued their plan to attack Curry on the defensive in almost every posession. Did they wear down double MVP?

No. Curry himself had repeatedly stressed that he had not lost his self-confidence and continued to believe in himself. And he proved it wasn’t an empty phrase in the second half of game three, especially in the third quarter.

This is traditionally the strongest of the Warriors anyway. Time and time again they manage to produce a blowout suspicious score from a discreet half-time lead before the fans were back from getting beer in the arena. So also this time: From a 54:43 to the break tea within a few minutes a 21-point advantage – Game.

The main culprit was Curry. “I had a lot of open throws in the first half that didn’t go in – but I’m still looking for ways to get my degrees,” he explained after the game. His slump led him from downtown to the board, where he scored 14 points and scored 7/8 throws, sometimes closely defended.

At first this was quite harmless – but Curry apparently picked up his rhythm due to his basket-like successes. With 5 minutes left on the clock in the third position: A hand-off with Durant on the right wing led to an open threesome – Splash.

A minute later, Curry asked James Harden to dance. With a few dribblings, he straightened out his beard until he had enough room for a cheeky stepback threesome – Splash. The Oracle Arena was upset, their chef was cooking again at a high level. And it wasn’t finished.

After his two triples, he was up for more, went one-on-one with Trevor Ariza. He defended intensely and closely, but then fell for a feint of curry, which passed and refined the action with a floater. Then he broke it out of him: “This is my f****ng house!” he shouted into the euphoric crowd and pointed to the holy parquet at his feet.

At that time at the latest, the decision of the game had been made. The Rockets were broken, suffered a historically high defeat with a difference of 41 points. Curry had his breakout game with 35 points (18 of them in the third quarter), the hoped-for Oracle effect had come true.

Since 16 playoff matches the Dubs are unbeaten in front of their home crowd – new NBA record. No other crowd in the league ignites such electrifying energy when the home team starts to run and gives the opponent a decisive dagger thrust. And despite all Kevin Durants, Curry is still the one who can light this fire at its best and on the other hand benefits from it when it first blazes.

“He feeds the crowd with energy,” Steve Kerr explained after the appearance of this phenomenon. “The fans are just happy when he scores.” Curry has taken the Warriors to where they are today with his revolutionary style of playing – they will never forget that.

What the team itself has not forgotten is that a 41-point blowout in a play-off series is just as important as a hard-fought win with a difference of one point. Fact: The Rockets are only one success away from regaining their home advantage in the series and their performance in game 2 has shown that they can beat the champion unless he shows his highest level.

Therefore Durant warned directly: “Game 4 will be the most important and hardest game of the playoffs.” So the focus is back on the essentials – and if this has been the case lately, the defending champion was almost unbeatable. Especially in Stephen Curry’s living room, which cannot be taken away so quickly.