Steve Kerr basically has given up on trying to keep Stephen Curry out of foul trouble.

In fact, the Warriors’ head coach tried to commission Curry’s mom to drive home a point about breaking his habit of reaching on defense.

“When we were in L.A. and he picked up his fourth foul, I asked him: ‘Steph, where’s you mom?’” Kerr said after the Warriors’ 104-100 victory over Houston on Sunday to open the teams’ best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series. “She was about 10 rows behind the bench. I looked up and made eye contact with Sonya and said: ‘Tell him not to foul anymore.’ If his mom can’t get through to him, I’m definitely not going to be able to.

“Maybe I’ll try Dell this time, try his dad.”

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Apparently, Curry still hasn’t gotten the message. He spent two stints on the bench with foul trouble in Game 1, marking the fifth time in seven postseason games that the point guard has been relegated to more extensive time off the court.

Curry went to the bench with four personal fouls at the 4:34 mark of the third quarter and the Warriors leading 68-66. Surprisingly, with their offensive engine on the bench, the Warriors were able to extend their lead to seven points by the start of the fourth quarter.

That’s when Curry returned and looked to improve on a shoddy shooting afternoon. Just four minutes after getting back into the game, Curry was whistled for his fifth foul and had to retreat to the bench with a six-point lead.

“I need to be more mindful of fouls,” Curry said. “I can’t be passive, but I can be smart. ... I’ll figure it out eventually.”

His only basket of the fourth quarter was arguably the biggest shot of the game. Being guarded by Nene, Curry created space with a nifty dribble and drained a 3-pointer from the right wing that extended the Warriors’ lead to 103-98 with 25 seconds remaining.

Curry strutted back toward midcourt and implored the fans to get into the game. Or, maybe he was trying to get himself to rediscover his game. During the 82-game regular season, he picked up more than three fouls in only 17 games and did not foul out.

The planet’s best shooter doesn’t believe that his pristine jumper is susceptible to slumps, but his game relies heavily on rhythm and flow — two things that disappear during long stretches of riding the pine with foul trouble.

“We won the game tonight and got away with it,” Curry said. “But, I’ve got to be better.”

Curry has averaged 19.5 points on 23-for-55 (41.8%) from the floor, including 10-for-29 (34.5%) from beyond the arc in the past four games, putting more of the scoring burden on Kevin Durant. With Kerr begging him to shoot 20 to 30 times per game, Durant is reminding fans who he is.

The six-time scoring champ is averaging 40.8 points in the past four games, having knocked down 53.1% of his field-goal attempts and 42.9% of his 3-point attempts.

“There’s this guy named Michael something. I can’t remember his last name,” Kerr said of his Chicago teammate Michael Jordan, who regularly put together stretches like Durant is now navigating. “No, Kevin has run these past couple of weeks. He’s just been off the charts. He’s the most skilled basketball player on Earth. He’s one of the most skilled basketball players to ever play the game. There’s never been anybody like him.

“He’s just an unbelievable talent. I think after we lost Game 2 to the Clippers, he felt like he had turn it up and lift us up another level. That’s exactly what he’s done.”

Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron