HOUSTON — Stephen Curry did not look tired on Sunday evening. Klay Thompson did not look tired. Kevin Durant didn’t look tired. Draymond Green sure as hell didn’t look tired.



OK, obviously teams are supposed to feel fresh and fiery the night before Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, which for the Warriors will be here Monday night against the No. 1-seeded Houston Rockets. It’s a rather important time.



But let’s also point out that the Warriors essentially played an entire regular season on cruise control, stumbled through a lot of patchy periods, conserved energy, ceded the top spot in the conference to Houston, and generally elicited some amount of concern among their partisans and intrigue among those who were looking for signs of decline.



They did all that to make sure they’d be at their best for the most important part of the season, which was not the regular season.



And … here the Warriors...