This is a continuation of the halftime recap of Game 4 of the 2015 Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets.
The Rockets took a 69-59 lead into halftime and the diagnosis for Stephen Curry remained “head contusion” with no update on concussion protocols.
3RD QUARTER: Curry Comes Back
Golden State continued to fight at the start of the 2nd half, getting off on the right foot as Dwight Howard missed a short righty hook over Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green led the break and Harrison Barnes finished with a two-hand dunk.
Green also backed in Josh Smith from the right block and got an and-one as he spun middle and went with a banker, and the Warriors had the lead down to 9, 73-64, approaching 9 minutes remaining.
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But James Harden kept the Rockets afloat, scissoring through the perimeter for a righty reverse over Barnes, then hooking Barnes away from the top on the bounce and taking big steps in for a two-handed dunk before Bogut could get there.
Smith made two turnovers, the second a lost ball where Bogut grabbed Howard to prevent him from getting to the ball, but there was no call. Howard retaliated with an elbow shot to Bogut’s head. The refs reviewed the foul and did not eject Howard.
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Bogut missed both free throws on the Flagrant One and Barnes got a big-stepping two-handed fastbreak dunk on an outlet by Bogut after Harden missed a three and fell down, but Trevor Ariza buried a triple with Barnes unable to rotate in time.
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Green kept up his great play, answering with a three on a catch of his own and the Warriors were back to within nine.
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With the TV cameras showing Curry running around in the annals of the Toyota Center…
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…Klay Thompson shot a banker from the left side that looked like it might have been goal-tended, but Howard got credit with the block.
Harden then got two more free throws on a reverse layup, but Curry came back into the game with 5:58 remaining as Kerr got a technical, perhaps for arguing the goaltend.
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Harden kept pouring it on, getting a step-back trey over Thompson, but Green came back with a lob alley-oop to Festus Ezeli. However, the Rockets pushed the lead back up as Terrence Jones swished a three from the left wing over Green, Curry’s stepback long two was an airball, and Harden dribbled on the left wing, stopped, and popped a triple over Thompson. Kerr called timeout and the Warriors were still down by 19, 90-71, with 4:07 left.
Curry clearly wasn’t himself, while Harden was, and kept Golden State at bay to close out the quarter.
Although Steph made a technical free throw after Jones got shoved a little in the back of the head by Green and retaliated with an elbow that wasn’t designed to hit anything…
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…Curry got smothered on an up-fake beyond the arc by Jones, then got blocked again after penetrating into the lane by Jones from behind.
Kerr rolled the dice by inserting David Lee for a stint, replacing Ezeli with 3:21 to go in the quarter, but he immediately turned the ball over at halfcourt, dribbling off his foot against pressure applied by Houston, after Kerr ordered a “Hack-A” on Rockets backup center Clint Capela.
Steph was still effective distributing the ball, however, and found Andre Iguodala and Leandro Barbosa for triples. Green, meanwhile, was spectacular, tipping in a bankshot of an Iguodala miss, getting Jones to shoot an airball at the shotclock buzzer, and making a triple himself from the top, then a crossover into the lane for a righty hook.
But Harden kept being Harden, getting to the cup and either drawing free throws or converting. By the end of the quarter, he had 28 points.
After Barbosa’s three that was assisted by Curry trimmed the Rockets’ lead to 97-84 with 9.1 seconds remaining, Iguodala closed out nicely on Harden’s three from the top, but the airball fell way short, Jones tracked it, and dunked home the putback as the buzzer sounded.
The Rockets took a 99-84 lead into the final frame.
4TH QUARTER: Too Much Harden
The Warriors chipped away at the Houston lead out of the 4th quarter gate, even though Thompson started the quarter with a bad pass, spinning out of control and tweaking his leg a tiny bit in the process, but he came back with three triples and Barnes added another trey after Curry found him on a cross-court pass.
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Golden State’s defense went up a notch, as Jones badly missed a left baseline jumper off the side of the backboard over Barnes, with help from Barbosa, and Klay got his third triple as Bogut set the pick at the top.
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That cut down the Houston lead to 102-95, and Rockets head coach Kevin McHale called a timeout with 9:27 to play.
Curry showed signs of life, crossing over for a three-pointer splash that cut the lead to 104-98 with 8:25 remaining after Harden made a swish out of the timeout over Klay.
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Still, despite a turnover, Harden kept attacking, drawing Draymond’s 4th foul on a drive down the right side of the lane, after getting the switch.
Barbosa got an open triple but the shot went in and out, then Steph then got Howard switched up top, crossed him over, went past him, but the layup went in and out as well.
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Iguodala missed an open three and Harden made the Warriors pay, pulling up over Barnes in transition from beyond the arc at the top.
Draymond got stripped on the next play by Harden, who converted the run-out layup over Iguodala to give him 37 points. Kerr called timeout and the deficit was back down to 111-98, Rockets, with 6:37 left.
Kerr resorted to the “Hack-A” strategy after Thompson went off one foot from the left side and missed badly, compounded with a phantom call on Green as he and Smith went for the rebound. That gave Draymond five personals, but after Barnes missed inside against the smaller Jason Terry, Barnes hacked Smith to send him to the line.
Smith missed both, but the Warriors couldn’t capitalize and Harden went down the left lane and found Howard for an alley-oop to put Houston back up, 114-98.
The Warriors were hit-or-miss on the possessions after the “Hack-A”, although Smith missed five more throws. Curry got a trey over Howard, assisted by Barnes, then manufactured another triple, stopping and popping over Ariza to cut the lead to 10, 116-106 with 3:45 remaining.
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But Iguodala missed from downtown badly and Curry also missed with only Green underneath to rebound and, sure enough, Draymond got called for a foul, as Harden pulled it in, for Green’s 6th personal, sending him to the bench.
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The Golden State offense stalled a bit, but Barbosa finally found Barnes inside for a turn hook over Brewer, then Jones was stripped by Iguodala, who then scored inside on a designed play out of the ensuing timeout, but once again Harden answered the call, draining the shotclock, eventually getting switched onto by Barbosa, and stepping back for a swish triple to give him 39 points and put the Rockets back up by 11, 121-110.
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Curry answered back with a righty scoop driving past Terry, who was defending the arc, and Terry lost the ball to Klay, but Thompson missed a three-pointer from the left wing and Jones answered on the other end, the death knell for the Warriors as the Rockets pulled away, 123-112, with 1:07.
Kerr called timeout, requiring a miracle comeback. Out of the timeout, Klay missed a three-pointer, Ariza got the run-out dunk, Curry dribbled past the Rockets’ defense, got blocked from behind by Ariza, and Harden milked the clock, the Warriors dying a slow death.
With Iguodala draped all over him, Harden stepped back from the deep left elbow and swished it, giving him 45 points.
Iguodala immediately came back with his own triple that banged in from the right wing, but it didn’t matter, as Harden got the inbound and dribbled out the clock.
Houston is now 4-0 in elimination games, with the three previous wins against the Los Angeles Clippers after being down 3-1, and Game 5 will be in two nights at Oracle Arena in Oakland.
Howard could be suspended for Game 5 if he is assessed a Flagrant Two after-the-fact from the league office.
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @mobywizza)
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