Despite a brutal fourth quarter, the Warriors had one final chance to win Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals as they trailed the Houston Rockets, 94-92, with 15.2 seconds left.
Draymond Green corralled James Harden’s missed 27-foot three-pointer, passed the ball to Kevin Durant, and the Warriors headed the other way. But they turned in a disorganized offensive possession, which ended in Klay Thompson shooting a contested, fadeaway jumper that didn’t have much of a chance. Chris Paul grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 0.5 seconds left.
“I raced it down. I was trying to see if I had some options,” Durant said postgame. “I had seen Klay running along the baseline. Maybe (I) should have waited until he set his feet, but I just threw a bounce pass and tried to relocate for him.”
Should the Warriors have called a timeout? Steve Kerr said he ‘wanted the timeout.’
It looks like Green tried to get the referees’ attention. At that point, their eyes were focused on Thompson.
Draymond was signaling for a timeout when Klay was stuck in the corner on that last possession #Warriors#Rockets#WCFpic.twitter.com/yd8uXtFYvm
— Ball Don’t Stop (@balldontstop) May 23, 2018
The game was not over, though. After Paul was fouled with 0.5 seconds left, he missed the first free throw and made the second to extend Houston’s lead to 95-92.
Stephen Curry had one final opportunity for a catch-and-shoot look in the corner, but he missed it. Houston coach Mike D’Antoni said he did not think Curry released the ball before the buzzer sounded anyway.
“The last play, I actually got a decent look,” Curry said. “I think maybe in my head I was thinking five-tenths (of a second), (but you) don’t know how long you can catch, turn, do that whole thing. So, maybe I rushed it a little bit. (It was a) decent look, but you wish the game didn’t come down to that to try to extend it.”
Curry and Durant both explained that the final possessions did not determine the game’s outcome. The Warriors struggled mightily throughout the fourth quarter, scoring only 12 points in their 95-92 loss to Houston, which evened the series at two games apiece.
