The Golden State Warriors faced the Houston Rockets tonight in Houston at the Toyota Center. Dwight Howard was ruled out right before the game with flu-like symptoms. The Rockets had two other starters out: Patrick Beverley and Terrence Jones.
David Lee was out for the Warriors with a re-aggravated strained hamstring.
FIRST QUARTER
Little did the Warriors know, that old play-down-to-your-competition bug would hit them again. Neither team was having an easy time scoring, as the game was knotted up at 0-0 approaching 9:00 to play.
On one sequence, the Rockets got an offensive rebound four times in a row, only to have Stephen Curry throw a touchdown pass to Draymond Green for the easy two. However, the Warriors would not get away with the lack of defensive rebounding after that.
With Howard out and changing the dynamics of the game, and with the Warriors faced with a back-to-back game tomorrow in Phoenix, head coach Steve Kerr opted to go with Leandro Barbosa for Klay Thompson after Thompson picked up his second foul.
Houston’s point guard Isaiah Canaan stepped up and scored 10 points in the quarter. The Rockets were only shooting 36% from the field, including 3-for-13 from downtown, but 6 of their 12 rebounds were on the offensive end. The Warriors were down 29-25 after the first frame.
The only big highlight for the Warriors was this exquisite take by Curry:
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SECOND QUARTER
More of the same occurred in the next frame as the Warriors couldn’t get a spark. Worse, shortly after the #SplashBrothers checked back in, Thompson picked up his third foul. Bogut actually slapped Trevor Ariza‘s forehead for the foul, but the referee thought Thompson had done enough on his part to warrant his third.
Not surprisingly, Harden got two straight buckets after that and Kerr had no choice but to call timeout. It was Houston, 42-37, with 5:26 to go in the half.
Other unexpected things happened such as Donatas Motiejunas (“D-Mo”) having 12 points on 2 three-pointers and Bogut getting picked cleanly by Kostas Papinakolauo after getting a defensive rebound.
Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston played well. Livingston had a nice driving layup utilizing his long arms and Iguodala had a three-pointer followed by a thwarting of Harden’s Euro-Step move by knocking it out of bounds on Harden.
But the Rockets took a 56-48 lead into halftime as D-Mo hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.
THIRD QUARTER
Golden State needed to come out with energy in the third and they did. Thompson, who had zero field goals in the first half, got things going. After a missed three-pointer, he had a chance for another attempt from deep, but decided to take it strong to the hole and made the bucket. The Klay from last year probably would have shot another open three.
Thompson also had a tough reverse layup in which he put some English on it and it trickled in.
He also found Curry in the corner for a three-pointer after beating Harden on the open floor, yet another attribute Thompson’s added to his game this year.
The Warriors were not only holding the Rockets on defense, to just four points throughout a long stretch of the quarter, but also finding their rhythm. Even though Draymond Green collected his fourth personal foul on a bad screen for Thompson, the Warriors strung some buckets together.
Curry stole the inbounds pass at the top of the key and dribbled to three-point territory, splashing the trey and giving the Dubs five points in a matter of seconds. Bogut got a reverse layup assisted by Thompson, and Iguodala converted a reverse slam, prompting Green to get extra-emotional on the bench:
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Bogut recorded his 16th rebound for the game, the 8th in this quarter alone, and even forced Jason Terry into a turnover, guarding him well on the baseline.
But turnovers continued to haunt the Warriors and they couldn’t blow the game open because of it.
Golden State took a 76-69 lead into the final frame, holding the Rockets to just 13 points. Curry was up to 20 points. Marreese Speights did a good job in spot minutes off the bench, making a couple buckets and taking a charge.
FOURTH QUARTER
A lineup in the beginning of the fourth that featured Livingston, Barbosa, Iguodala, Green, and Festus Ezeli, was not only shaky on paper, but also on the court.
Even though Ezeli showed grit by getting two possessions after sure-fire Rockets defensive boards, just with his weight, strength and presence getting in the way, a Harden take on Green (4 fouls), dishing to Motiejunas, made the score 78-77 with the Warriors ahead and 8:49 to go.
Then Curry took over, putting on his “floor general” hat. Harden, who made some bad passes during the night, got a long skip pass intercepted by Curry, who warded off Canaan with his right hand, hitting a banker. It was just a beautiful, fundamental basketball play.
With the Warriors up 88-82, Curry committed the team’s 24th turnover, but the Rockets came down and missed one of their 32 missed three-pointers (!). Kerr called timeout.
Kerr ran a play that got Curry free on the right side and he nailed the trey, giving the Warriors an insurmountable 91-82 lead with just 2:10 to go.
Curry added an exquisite running floater, a high-arcing three-pointer while isolated at the top against Motiejunas, and his 10th rebound on yet another Rockets miss.
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Curry finished with 34 points on a super-efficient 13-for-19 from the field, 6-for-9 from downtown, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and a league-leading 4 steals. He scored 14 in the final frame. Bogut added 18 rebounds and Iguodala had 15 points off the bench.
The Warriors held Houston to just 31 points in the second half and, in total, 34.9% shooting (30-for-86), and 23.8% (10-for-42) from beyond the arc. On the flip side, Golden State committed a ghastly 26 turnovers.
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