Western Conference finals more than Stephen Curry vs. James Harden
In the headlines, this is the MVP face-off: Stephen Curry vs. James Harden, the Golden State Warriors' winner of the Maurice Podoloff trophy and the Houston Rockets star who saw himself as more deserving.
Or, more accurately, the Western Conference finals that start Tuesday at Oracle Arena are all about the Curry-Harden cook-off. Only one Top Chef can move on from here.
Curry earned the nickname "Chef Curry" this season when the video of him and his wife, Ayesha, doing a lip-syncing spoof of Drake's 0 to 100 hit — "Chef Curry with the pot," the line goes — went viral. Then Harden concocted his own culinary imagery on the court, using his fingers as the imaginary spoon inside the cup of his hot hand whenever he really got cooking.
The truth about this series, though, is that they are merely a side dish.
If Curry and Harden were reminded of anything on their respective paths to this point, it's that one-man bands don't play for long in the playoffs. It's all about depth, collective will and intangibles like chemistry, with star power often dimmed when role players and coaches don't come through in the clutch. And rest assured, Curry and Harden know that as well as anyone.
After Curry struggled mightily in Games 2 and 3 of the West semifinals against the Memphis Grizzlies, his much-improved offense was merely one of the many reasons the Warriors turned the tide of that series and won in six games. More than anything, it was the Warriors' defense playing up to its league-best standards that got the job done.
After allowing 101.1 points per 100 possessions in their two losses, they allowed just 91.5 points per 100 in the final three games while holding the Grizzlies to 38.2% shooting. That's a group effort, with Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala and others working on the wings and Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green dominating down low.
Harden, meanwhile, wasn't on the floor when the Rockets were saving their season in Game 6 against the Los Angeles Clippers in their semifinal. That improbable 19-point, fourth-quarter comeback — one that took place mostly with Dwight Howard, Josh Smith, Trevor Ariza, Jason Terry and Corey Brewer pulling it off — led to the Game 7 win where Harden was back to his MVP-caliber ways.
Yet even with Harden's 31-point, eight-assist, seven-rebound, three-steal outing, and with Howard, Ariza and Smith combining for 52 points, it was the unexpected heroics of point guard Pablo Prigioni that put their effort over the top. The 38-year-old, who is in just his third NBA season, had three key steals, catching Blake Griffin and Chris Paul napping time and again, and hit a well-timed three-pointer midway through the third quarter to push the Rockets' eight-point lead back to 11.
It's all-hands-on-deck time, in other words, unless you want to go fishing.
"We don't get to this (point) if not for Trev, Brew, Josh, Dwight, and Jet," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said on Sunday while acknowledging their part in the Game 6 finish that included a 40-15 Rockets run. "We don't even get to today. ... Everybody that stepped on the floor really contributed."
But the trouble for Houston is that no team is as deep, or as healthy, as the Warriors. Save for a possible Game 1 absence from reserve big man Marreese Speights (right calf), Golden State is good to go now like they have been almost all season long. The Rockets have gotten this far despite being without two starters who suffered injuries that were deemed season-ending (point guard Patrick Beverley and forward Donatas Motiejunas).
What's more, the next time the Rockets beat the Warriors this season will be the first. They were 0-4 against Golden State during the regular season, losing by an average of 15.3 points and ensuring that they'll be widely considered the underdogs here. Howard was injured and didn't play in the first two games, but he was in for the last two.
Curry vs. Harden will be good hoops theatre, especially considering both players are back to their respective top forms. Curry leads all remaining players in postseason scoring at 28.2 points per game, with only the New Orleans Pelicans' Anthony Davis having scored at a higher clip (31.5 points per game in the first-round sweep by the Warriors). The three-point threat that is such a remarkable part of his game is there as always, too, as Curry — just 10 games in, mind you — is just 12 threes away from Reggie Miller's all-time mark in a postseason that was set in 2000 (in 23 games).
Harden is right behind Curry in the postseason scoring ranks (26.7 points per game), and they both continue to showcase an all-around game that has everything to do with their teams' success (6.8 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game for Curry; 8.0 assists and 4.8 rebounds per for Harden). Both players would likely agree that they need to take better care of the ball (four turnovers per game for Curry, 4.5 per for Harden).
Follow Sam Amick on Twitter @sam_amick.
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