This is a continuation of the halftime recap of the Golden State Warriors vs the Houston Rockets.
3RD QUARTER: Untimely Turnovers And That Guy Harden
The Warriors tried to get some separation as Harrison Barnes and Klay Thompson dunked and scored, respectively, but untimely turnovers prevented that from happening. The guilty parties were Stephen Curry (twice), Barnes, and Thompson. Thompson’s was particularly troubling as he dribbled into the corner, chased by two Rockets, then jumped and threw the ball into the backcourt.
After Donatas Motiejunas got a putback over Festus Ezeli that made it 57-56 Rockets with 6:22 to go, “D-Mo”‘s 11th and 12th points of the night, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr opted for speed, bringing in Marreese Speights for Ezeli.
Thompson then missed a three, but came back with a made one after re-gathering himself. Sensing the torch was lit, Rockets head coach Kevin McHale immediately called a twenty-second timeout with 3:46 to go and the Warriors up, 64-61.
Speights hit a fadeaway, but after both teams traded missed shots, Kerr called timeout. The “ATO” (After-Timeout play) by Kerr didn’t work, and Trevor Ariza ended up with an early-offense trey after Barnes hit the deck on a missed fade-away.
Barnes hit a three, Speights a jumper, but Harden continued to wreak havoc with his driving layups, even getting a tip-in after an impressive bounce pass to Patrick Beverley in the corner. Beverley’s three-pointer went in-and-out on a lunging Curry, but Harden tipped it in over Klay with just 1.4 on the clock.
The Warriors ended the 3rd quarter behind, 76-73. Barnes and Thompson led the Dubs with 15 points each, while Harden had collected 26 by then. 42 of the 76 Houston points were in the paint.
4TH QUARTER:
After sitting the end of the third frame, Curry started the fourth quarter, although the Warriors went inside to Shaun Livingston posting up on Jason Terry. Livingston also got an interior dunk after Curry spun away from the Houston defense and attacked the right side.
But Harden answered the call yet again. After an ugly sequence on a broken play that found the Rockets on their heels, Livingston missed a wide open elbow jumper and Harden nailed the resultant three in transition, giving the Rockets an 84-81 lead with 7:18 to play.
Barnes rose for a three from the deep right corner to cut the deficit to 85-86, then found himself open again and rose again, but at the last moment, fed a wide-open Livingston in the paint, who dunked it. McHale called timeout again and the Warriors were now up 87-86 with 5:44 to play.
After Harden sized up Draymond Green for a three up top, Curry went behind-the-back right-to-left with a pass to Green, who had set the pick and rolled, and Green found himself with a “parting of the Red Sea” and slammed it home right-handed, for a 91-89 lead with 4:24 left.
Harden then tried a hero three, which was a rare miss tonight, and Barnes got an and-one, absorbing the contact on Harden, making the free throw as well. After some great team defense that saw Livingston dive into the sideline seats, Thompson blocked the Rockets’ baseline-out-of-bounds pass to Harden underneath, and #Roaracle smelled blood and rose to its feet as it was the beginning of the end for Houston.
With that energy, Thompson scissored through the Rockets defense and laid it up almost uncontested. McHale burned another timeout and the Warriors were in dominant position, 96-89 with just 3:17 to go.
McHale opted to go inside to Motiejunas, but Green tapped a weak entry pass by Jason Terry and Curry was off to the races, beating the Rockets defense with a reverse layup. That made it an insurmountable 98-81. Thompson added a layup, Curry a cruel trey, and even though Curry had celebrated a missed Klay three-pointer prematurely, the Warriors still ended the game annihilating the Rockets, 105-93, with about 45 of the 48 minutes not indicative of a double-digit game.
Harden led all scorers with 34, but Curry countered with 20 on 8-for-15 field, 3-for-5 downtown, 7 rebounds, 7 assists. Thompson had 21 points on 8-for-18, 1-for-8 from downtown. Barnes also contributed 20 points, 7 rebounds. Speights had 15 and Livingston 8 off the bench.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
