ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Houston Rockets at the Golden State Warriors.
The Rockets held a 64-59 lead at halftime.
Q3: Still Having Trouble Boxing Out
With Cam Newton in the building…
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…Klay Thompson got a three to start things off on the right foot for Golden State…
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…but Clint Capela got another putback, James Harden attacked the paint for a finger roll that trickled in, and Stephen Curry got a touchdown pass to Zaza Pachulia tipped, then was even further off as a lob into two people guarding Kevin Durant became a turnover.
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Harden took Draymond Green lefty for a layup, and Pachulia got the ball out of the bucket, his elbow touched Harden in the face, and Harden shoved the elbow away.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had called timeout anyways, but the refs went to the replay and ruled the altercation a double-technical.
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Out of the timeout, Zaza hustled and tipped missed threes by Steph and Klay, getting fouled on the second one, which led to a technical on Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni.
But Durant missed a jumper and Capela got yet another offensive putback.
After Thompson missed a three and Green fouled, leading to a 74-67 deficit, Kerr inserted Iguodala first again for the early “Death Lineup” look.
Curry took Patrick Beverley left side, only to get tripped, but Steph made the late toss from the ground!
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The Warriors couldn’t cash in, though, as Green made a bad pass to a cutting Durant and Harden stepped back on a pull-up on Draymond for a triple.
That gave Houston a 77-67 lead with 6:28 remaining.
Curry went up-and-under, only to get swatted by Capela, but Klay got a steal, led the break, and found KD for a catch-and-shoot trey.
However, Trevor Ariza answered quickly as Harden advanced the ball with a long pass.
Steph answered with a give-and-go with Green for a scoop and, after Ariza missed a three, Curry got the board and went coast-to-coast, going with another up-and-under against Harden, but making it this time with a lot of contact:
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That brought the Warriors back to 79-74 with 5:01 to play and D’Antoni called timeout.
Kerr rolled the dice with James McAdoo, who fared well, grabbing some boards.
Curry hit a left side trey on the catch to bring Golden State to within two, 79-77, and Iguodala made an impressive steal, then got fouled on the break, but missed both free throws.
Green stole the ball when Sam Dekker slipped on a left baseline drive, but Draymond missed a point-blank inside feed from Iguodala on the left corner, which then ended up with Curry throwing the ball away, Dekker finding Corey Brewer for an easy two as Kerr called timeout, the Rockets leading, 81-78, with 2:03 to go.
Montrezl Harrell got a dunk after a missed trey by Curry, McAdoo scored inside, but Beverley ended the sequence with a swish from the right arc.
KD answered with a contact-fade jumper, Brewer missed a three, and Durant airballed a three at the buzzer with Beverley guarding him. They also had a friendly jawing session afterwards, probably arguing about a non-call.
Q4: Chef’s Hat Falls Off
Durant started the fourth with a step-back three, but yet again the Warriors gave up an offensive rebound to Harrell, who put back a miss by Gordon.
After a silly behind-the-back pass turned over by Thompson, Livingston got a steal, but Klay stayed cold, missed a triple, and Harrell came down for this ferocious dunk, and-one, against McAdoo:
That put the Rockets up, 91-85, with 9:32 remaining.
“Mac” atoned with a dunk of his own, facilitated by a Livingston spin and dish, but after a TV timeout, Gordon drilled a three over Curry…
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…giving the Rockets a 94-87 lead.
Curry made another bad pass, but Durant eventually ended the sequence of misses by Houston with another three. Then Steph seemed to go “Chef” mode, getting a steal, but the hat fell off quickly as he back-rimmed a three on a pull-up, which to the Rockets credit, was turned into an immediate three by Anderson, assisted by Gordon.
Green came back with two misses and a put-back on the third try, out-hustling the Rockets, then Steph attacked Gordon for free throws and Oracle came to life, chanting, “Warriors!” as Curry drained the throws to pull the Warriors to within 97-94.
Later, Klay missed a layup falling to the floor, a high-difficulty shot, but Curry stripped Capela, outlet to Green, and Draymond went coast-to-coast for the fast break bucket.
Steph got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, reaching in on Harden near the logo, which was Curry’s fourth personal, and Dekker ended up canning a triple.
Steph came back with a side-step triple…
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…but once again, Houston fired a touchdown pass to Dekker and Green was forced to foul.
The Warriors came right back as Durant hit Curry, and Draymond slipped to the rim uncontested for a jam:
Curry dishin' on @CSNAuthentic. pic.twitter.com/ZH5TlN0RXP
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) December 2, 2016
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Later, Steph went to the line again to chants of “MVP!” and put the Warriors up, 104-101, with 3:28 to play, but Dekker got the put-back this time again for the Rockets on a Gordon missed triple.
Curry lost another mini-three-point shootout again, his shot going in and out, then Harden found Gordon from the left corner for another bomb that put Houston up, 106-104, with 2:36 to go.
But Durant came back, following his own missed three from the top for a put-back, and-one.
Curry got a right-wing step-back over Anderson, but it was sandwiched between two shot-clock-beating threes by Anderson.
Green then tipped a Steph missed triple, and got fouled by Harden on Durant’s ensuing missed trey, but proceeded to miss both free throws.
Draymond made up for it with a steal of Harden’s pass on the next Rockets possession, and a KD jab-step drew fouls.
But with 22.7 seconds left, Anderson managed to draw a foul under the hoop as Durant and Green helped, and his free throws gave Houston a 113-111 lead.
Kerr called a timeout and side inbound went to KD in the right mid-post. He was fouled, drained both free throws, D’Antoni called timeout, cleared the floor for Harden, and Harden back-rimmed a step-back three over Iguodala to send the game into overtime with a 113-113 tie.
OT1: Lack Of Late Splashes
The Warriors struck first in the overtime period, as Steph went reverse on the baseline for an and-one…
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…but Anderson hit another clutch jumper.
Iguodala then fed Curry for a three…
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…but Harden drew Steph’s fifth personal on a three-point attempt and canned all three free throws to bring the Rockets back to within 119-118 with 3:54 remaining.
Klay and Harden exchanged missed triples, then Thompson found Durant in transition for a dunk:
Another mini-three-point shootout ensued after Anderson turned the ball over with a weak pass to Gordon on the left sideline, but Steph’s pull-up from beyond the arc missed, Gordon missed from the right arc at his shot clock buzzer, Curry missed also from the right wing, Ariza missed from — you guess it — the right wing, but Dekker got ANOTHER offensive rebound and found Gordon on the left side for the three that mercifully went in.
Kerr called timeout after the swish with the score even at 121-121 with 1:25 to play.
After Durant missed a dribble-and-pop, Dekker converted a reverse layup assisted by Harden, Klay hit a catch-and-shoot inside the arc with nobody underneath the hoop, and Green managed to deflect a Harden pass with 4.8 seconds to go and 1.8 on the shot clock.
D’Antoni called timeout, Gordon couldn’t get the inbound, and called another timeout.
Kerr elected to stay small with the “Death Lineup” despite the ball being on the baseline, and the pass into Gordon got hammered down, knocked from Gordon’s grasp, and Draymond had the ball, with the Warriors calling timeout with 2.3 seconds left:
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Beverley fouled Green on the inbound, but the Rockets had one foul to give.
The ball went to Durant for a fade from the left baseline over Harden, but the shot went too hard for an airball. Steph was there for the rare offensive rebound, but his banker clanked short and would not have counted as it came after the final buzzer, forcing the game into a second five-minute overtime, tied 123-123.
OT2: Epic Flail
The lack of splashes continued for the Warriors after Durant and Anderson missed attempts, then Curry’s lefty scoop down the lane missed, but Iguodala got the board and fired to Thompson.
Klay’s shot went halfway down, but popped out, then Ariza missed a three as Steph closed nicely.
But Curry got called for a charge after going past Harden and making contact with Harrell, who appeared to be moving at the time:
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That was Steph’s sixth foul, sending him to the bench.
Kerr inserted Livingston, but Harden hit a three from the left wing.
KD back-rimmed from the right wing, Green tied up the ball with Harden, but Harden won the tip, and couldn’t hit as both Iguodala and Klay lunged out nicely to defend the shot.
Durant then missed again, this time from the right arc, but Draymond got the offensive rebound, got fouled, and during the tussle, flailed his leg up high, it landing near Harden’s head:
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The officials reviewed the play and enforced the NBA’s new “Draymond rule”, which penalizes such leg kicks. To make matter worse, Green missed both his “common foul” attempts, then Harden made both of the flagrant free throws.
That gave the Rockets a 128-124 lead with 2:10 remaining.
With Houston retaining possession after the flagrant, Gordon went past Durant for a layup, KD tried to answer with a three but was short. Green made another case for the Defensive Player Of The Year award with a steal of Ariza, but Livingston couldn’t cash in on a patented fade-away.
Fortunately for the Warriors, Harden missed two straight attempts, the second enabled by — you guessed it — an offensive rebound by Harrell, and Kerr called timeout with 26.1 seconds to play.
Out of the timeout, Klay missed again, but Green boarded again, and-one against Harrell, and brought Golden State back to within one possession, 130-127, but there were only 20.1 seconds to go.
The Warriors let the ball get inbounded and did not foul, trying to force a trap, but Gordon eventually got the ball to Beverley, who was fouled by Durant with 15.5 seconds left.
The Warriors still had one foul to give at that point, so the ensuing inbound went into the corner to Anderson, Iguodala trapped, but couldn’t steal it, and somehow Anderson got the ball to Ariza, fouled by Green with 8.4 seconds remaining.
Ariza hit both throws to put the Rockets up, 132-127, the Warriors inbounded, Klay shot a three from the left wing short, Clark got the rebound and missed the harmless putback, and Harden grabbed the board as the buzzer sounded.
Harden amassed 29 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists for the win, with Anderson going 5-for-10 from deep for 29 points as well, and Gordon off the bench for 23 points on 9-for-19 shooting and 5 assists.
Draymond collected 20 points, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, but was just 2-for-5 — five very critical free throws.
Durant led the Dubs with 39 points and 13 rebounds, but went just 3-for-11 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Curry played just 38 minutes in a 58-minute game, tallying 28 points on on 4-for-13 downtown. Thompson was an anemic 4-for-20 shooting and 3-for-13 on threes.
Golden State (16-3) will regroup in two nights to face Phoenix at home.
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