Golden State Warriors: 5 Takeaways From Game 1 vs. Rockets

4. Watch Out For Beverley

The biggest threat in a playoff series against the Houston Rockets isn’t James Harden and his 29-7-6 stat line, and it isn’t Dwight Howard beating the Dubs up inside either. No, the biggest threat to the Warriors in a series that was pretty much over in the first quarter of Game 1? Patrick Beverley.

Just ask Russell Westbrook and Oklahoma City Thunder fans about that one.

Or, actually, you could probably just ask Steph Curry about it at this point. One of Houston’s only trump cards in this series was Beverley trying to get under Curry’s skin by harassing him and playing him as physically as possible. It took Beverley all of five minutes and 29 seconds to squander his team’s one and only possible mental edge:

Of course, Curry knew what he was in for right from the tip, when Beverley gave him a little extra love tap during the pregame handshakes:

Unfortunately, the plan completely backfired.

It’s already silly that people think they can out-tough the Dubs to try and get in their heads with enforcers like Draymond Green, Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli and Marreese Speights on the roster, but trying to get in Curry’s head is outright foolish. Why? Because giving this already dangerous player an extra reason to be motivated is like dipping a shark’s face into a bucket of blood.

After the Beverley scuffle halfway through the first quarter, the Dubs closed the period on a 22-11 run and outscored the Rockets by 20 to finish out the first half. Just like that, Houston’s best trump card had already been played to no avail.

That being said, you can be guaranteed Beverley will try to play it again and again, especially as his team becomes more and more desperate for answers in the series. With Curry slightly hobbled at the moment, it’s imperative to avoid a notoriously physical player like Beverley who has already ended one superstar’s postseason in his day.

Next: No. 3