© Kyle Terada | 2018 May 22
OAKLAND — It was the first time we saw this in 17 games: the Warriors losing on their home floor in the playoffs. This was a back-and-forth battle featuring two heavyweights trading blows. Ultimately, the Rockets clamped down defensively in the fourth quarter, holding the Warriors to 12 points, and converted big buckets to slay Golden State on its home floor.
Houston, 95, Golden State, 92.
It came down to the final minute. The Warriors cut the Houston lead to three points after two made Kevin Durant free throws. Klay Thompson missed a 3-pointer, Draymond Green corralled the rebound, and kicked the ball to Stephen Curry, who also missed a three.
On the ensuing possession, after the Warriors got a stop, Curry missed a layup. Green got pushed and went to the free-throw line. He made one free throw, then missed the second, to cut the Houston lead to two.
James Harden missed on the other end. The Warriors elected not to take a timeout and scrambled to a contested Klay Thompson mid-range jumper that missed. Chris Paul got fouled and made the second free throw. Curry missed a three-pointer as time expired, and that was the game.
Every game in this series had been decided by at least 13 points, accentuated with a historic 41-point Golden State victory in Game 3, until Tuesday night.
The Warriors controlled the majority of the first half until Houston’s dynamic tandem of Harden and Paul got going. First it was Harden, who scored 22 of Houston’s first 36 points. Then came Paul, who initially struggled to break out of his Game 4 funk. But he found a groove late in the half, scoring 12 points in fewer than three minutes with the second quarter winding down. Houston launched a 28-8 run in the second quarter to extend its lead to a game-leading 10 points late in the second quarter.
The duo of Paul and Harden shouldered the offensive load, scoring 57 of Houston’s 95 points.
The Rockets led the Warriors by seven entering the second half, and then, to no surprise, the Warriors responded.
With Houston leading by five in the third quarter, Curry set up the offense, looked around, then pulled up from 29 feet — a terrible shot for just about any player other than him. Swoosh. The next possession, same thing. The next possession, the same thing, culminating in a 9-0 Curry run.
And with that run, the Warriors had erased the deficit. Once the dam broke, it flooded, as Thompson and Durant followed Curry’s lead to find a groove in the third quarter.
The Warriors outscored opponents by 377 points in the third quarter during the regular season. Their postseason run has been punctuated with ridiculous stretches of dominance— including separate 24-2, 25-4, and 18-2 runs— in the third quarter.
Despite trailing by double-digits, the Rockets matched every run with one of their own. They cut into the Golden State lead and completely erased it, taking an 85-84 lead with about six minutes remaining.
The Warriors sunk into a rare funk, starting with some odd turnovers from Thompson and leading into Green’s missed dunk. Durant seemed to be pressing throughout the fourth quarter — he finished with 27 points — and struggled to find a groove.
The Rockets made enough plays to steal a hugely important game to even the series.