ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Houston Rockets were in town against the Golden State Warriors, trying to avoid a season sweep to the Warriors for the first time since 1973-74.
Festus Ezeli was still out for the Warriors with a sprained ankle, while Ongnjen Kuzmic was listed as inactive with James Michael McAdoo signed to a 10-day contract recently. Terrence Jones was out with left leg nerve inflammation for the Rockets.
1ST QUARTER: Rockets Can’t Bully The Warriors
The game started off counting mostly by threes — well, ones — as James Harden drew two touch fouls from beyond the arc, one on Klay Thompson and the other by Harrison Barnes.
But two Andrew Bogut blocked shots at the rim, one on a transition layup attempt by Trevor Ariza and the other a post-up, reverse layup try by Dwight Howard, plus two long jumpers by Stephen Curry — the first thanks to a drag screen Draymond Green set on Harden, sending Harden flailing away, the second on a right-to-left crossover in transition — gave the Warriors an early 11-6 lead with 8:42 to play in the quarter.
Golden State came out the aggressor, at least without the ball, as they outrebounded the Rockets, 8-3, in the early going. Thompson got a putback jumper after corralling a missed Green trey and Barnes had a putback dunk of a missed floater by Green.
Barnes also scored an impressive and-one as he absorbed contact in mid-air from Howard on a drive on the left baseline, but managed to hang onto the ball and put it up high off the backboard. It was “Jordan-esque”:
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Rockets coach Kevin McHale took the first timeout with 6:45 left and the Warriors up, 18-11.
Houston wanted to come in and bully the Warriors, but Golden State would have none of it. Referee Tre Maddox t’ed up Howard when he elbowed Green after a made basket, about to run back on defense.
Then Andrew Bogut had two consecutive blocked shots of Howard at the rim, with Oracle roaring at high decibels as if a Roman gladiator had warded off an angry lion not once, but twice. But eventually, Patrick Beverley retrieved the loose ball and Howard received a re-post entry lob, to put the bucket in on the left bank, as Bogut was winded and couldn’t get himself back into the play.
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The intensity and action developing was exhausting for the players, as Green and Bogut never made it past halfcourt the next time down and Rockets power forward Donatas Motiejunas had his hands on his knees, heaving for air.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called timeout with 4:16 to play and brought Andre Iguodala and Justin Holiday in for Barnes and Thompson, respectively, but had to leave Bogut in as Howard stayed on as well.
After Holiday missed a right corner trey, Curry got the putback via right-side putback banker, where he flexed his bicep in celebration of the rebound over Beverley. On the next sequence, Howard was called for an offensive foul and subbed out with 3:48 to play, with the Warriors up, 28-18. That gave Bogut a chance to sub out as well.
But the Warriors’ second unit committed four turnovers to close out the quarter, two of them by Marreese Speights, who was also guilty of a defensive three-second violation, and the Rockets finished the first frame on a 8-0 run to close the gap to 32-29 at the end of the opening quarter, in favor of Golden State.
Curry led the Dubs with 12 points on 4-for-5, while Barnes added 8 and Thompson 7. Harden had 12 points for the Rockets and Howard added 6 boards. Golden State led by as many as 12 points, scored 17 fast break points and shot 50%, but they lead by just three.
2ND QUARTER: Dwight With The Nightmare Half
Shaun Livingston got the Warriors off to a good start with a dunk assisted by David Lee:
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Lee also got a slam of his own, on a putback of a missed layup by Iguodala. That put the Warriors up, 38-36, with 9:15 to play in the half. Barnes, however, picked up his third personal foul, sending Howard to the line. The Warriors are outshooting the Rockets 50 percent to 36.7 percent from the floor, though. Thompson was back in for Barnes.
Green then now hit his 56th three-pointers of the season, a single-season career-high. He had made 55 last season and 14 his rookie year.
At the 6:33 mark and Golden State up, 45-39, Curry and Bogut subbed back for Livingston and Lee, respectively, and the Warriors went on a tear.
Here were the highlights, as the Warriors outscored the Rockets 17-3 to end the half:
- Green had an early offense take of Josh Smith, right-handed and away from the help defense.
- Howard got the ball slapped out of his hands multiple times, as did Smith. Green and Bogut combined to force an inside turnover on Smith, then Green and Bogut took turns on different sequences to slap the ball out of Howard’s hands in the paint, although the latter led to a missed reverse layup on the fastbreak by Curry. Even Thompson got into the action, slapping the ball out of Howard’s hands after helping out in the paint. It was a nightmare half for Howard: 3 fouls, including 2 offensive. 3 turnovers, 3 shots blocked, 3-for-8 field, and a plus-minus of -21, in addition to those stripped balls.
- But Curry made up for that with his usual wizardry, a one-legged shot after an offensive rebound of Klay’s miss, one against five:
That gave the Warriors a 51-39 lead with 5:27 to go, as they reeled off a 15-1 run after Houston tied it 36-36 with 9:36 on the clock.
Howard’s third foul was a bad screen on Iguodala and Bogut got a slam putback of a Thompson miss:
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Harden answered back as superstars do, but then Klay took a tough shot over the draped Harden to answer him. It was great to see Thompson sticking it right back in Harden’s face. Not too long ago the Warriors having this swag had been unheard of.
After getting blocked, Thompson stayed with it, and got two offensive rebounds, the second of which was a putback against the bigger Motiejunas inside, out-tipping him. Klay also forced an airball on Harden before the end of the half, with
The Warriors took a huge 62-42 lead into halftime. Thompson led all scorers with 18 points on 6-for-13 field, as Curry added 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting and 3 assists, Bogut tallied 7 rebounds and 4 blocks, and Green collected 10 points with Barnes 8.
Harden led the Rockets with 16 points on 3-for-11 field but 9-for-11 on free throws, while Howard had just 7 points on 3-for-8 field and 9 rebounds.
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