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Since Steve Kerr was named head coach prior to the 2014 season, the Warriors have never started a playoff series on the road — until now. The Warriors will square off with the Houston Rockets in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals Monday night.
“I kind of forget that feeling,” Draymond Green said last Tuesday. “I am looking forward to the opportunity for us to go start a series somewhere else, not so much where we are at home, protected, just trying not to give up a game. We got a couple swings to go in there and take one.”
Out of Golden State’s 14 playoff series since Kerr has been head coach, the Warriors have only lost the opening game of a series once: when the Oklahoma City Thunder stole Game 1, 108-102, in 2016.
“We felt it against Oklahoma City a couple years ago,” Kerr told reporters Sunday night. “They came in and got Game 1 against us. It definitely changes the tone.”
Steve Kerr on a pivotal Game 1 pic.twitter.com/MF5BqkYzE7
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 13, 2018
Of course, that Thunder team, which ultimately lost to Golden State in seven games, had Kevin Durant.
Before he joined the Warriors, they were 0-4 in opening away playoff contests during the 2016 playoffs that ended in NBA Finals heartbreak. They went 3-1 in 2015, Kerr’s first year.
Since Durant’s arrival, the Warriors have compiled a 24-3 record throughout the playoffs, including a 5-1 mark in opening away playoff games. They have won a road playoff game in each of their past 17 series, the most in franchise history, nearing the all-time record of 19.
They will be entering hostile territory visiting Houston, which went an NBA-best 34-7 at home this season.
If the Warriors can steal one game in Houston, they have to like their chances to win potentially all three games in Oakland, where they have won 15 straight playoff contests. They have beaten teams by an average of 13.3 points per game in six home games in this year’s playoffs.
The only time the Warriors have lost the opening away contest in a playoff series came fewer than two weeks ago, when the Pelicans stomped Golden State, 119-100, in Game 3. As the underdogs, the Pelicans fed off the electric energy of their home floor, at its loudest during the anticipatory opening moments of each half. The Warriors were outscored by 18 points in the first and third quarters.
All season long, Golden State separated itself in the third quarter, averaging a 4.7-point advantage over opposing teams. The Rockets were the top first quarter scoring team, averaging a 4.4-point advantage.
The starts of halves will be an important factor in the upcoming series, as Golden State will try to tame a raucous Houston crowd and escape from a pivotal Game 1 with a win.
“There is a real power with going in and taking Game 1 on the road,” Kerr told KNBR last week. “Let’s go own there and play a great Game 1 and see if we can shift the entire dynamic of the series and entire feel to our advantage.”