HOUSTON -- Alam ni Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry na siya ang target para kay James Harden sa tuwing nasa Houston Rockets ang bola.
Sa kabila ng iniskor na 41 points ni Harden ay tinalo pa rin ni Curry at ng Warriors ang Rockets, 119-106, sa Game One ng Western Conference Finals.
“If that’s the game plan they want to stick with, my job is just to make it as tough as possible,” wika ni Curry. “You’ve got two great scorers over there in (Chris Paul) and James. You know how they get shots off in isolation-type situations, and they’re tough to stop. So I’m going to get scored on; they’re going to get scored on. There’s going to be a lot of back-and-forth.”
Sa 13 isolations kung saan binantayan ni Curry si Harden ay kumamada ang Houston star guard ng 17 points.
Matapos magtala ng average na 4.68 assists sa regular season ay may 2 assists lamang si Paul sa Game One.
“It doesn’t matter who has a bad game, who’s missing shots, whether it’s myself or Chris or anybody,” ani Harden. “Keep going. Keep shooting your shot and keep being aggressive. We’ve got this far doing that and having that mindset, so we’re just going to continue with it.”
Nagbiro si Houston coach Mike D’Antonio at sinabing kailangan ni Harden “about 55 next time” para talunin ang Golden State.
Nagtala sina Curry (18 points) at Kevin Durant (37) ng pinagsamang 55 sa Game One, habang tumipa si Klay Thompson ng 28 markers mula sa 6-of-15 shooting sa 3-point range.