© Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
If you missed Golden State’s 2017-18 season, then turned on the television Monday night, you saw a snapshot of the 98 games that preceded Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. The Warriors suffered through long stretches of sloppiness and carelessness on both ends of the floor to dig themselves into an early deficit. Their overwhelming talent came to the rescue during the third quarter, where the Warriors outscored opponents by 377 points in the regular season, and outscored the Rockets by 58 points in the first six games of this series.
With the Warriors trailing by 11 points at halftime, they needed to summon one last prolific quarter to swing the game and save their season. They did that. The Warriors outscored the Rockets by 18 points, then made one clutch shot after the next throughout the fourth quarter to seal the win.
The Warriors prevailed, 101-92, to cap a wildly entertaining series between the NBA’s best regular season teams.
Onto the NBA Finals — for a fourth straight time.
The night ended in celebration, but it started in dumbfounding sloppiness. One minute into the game, Draymond Green gave away turnovers on consecutive possessions. Klay Thompson committed two fouls in the first minute. Steve Kerr chose to leave Thompson in the game, a risky but seemingly sensible move considering his importance and propensity to not foul. But fewer than three minutes later, he fouled James Harden on a three-point shot and was sidelined until the final offensive possession of the quarter.
In the most important game of the season, the Warriors looked flat. They reverted to bad habits, carelessly throwing the ball away, compiling 10 turnovers by halftime. The Rockets secured 11 offensive rebounds in the first half. They outscored the Warriors 30-14 in paint points.
The Rockets were the aggressor from the opening tip, giving the defending champions all they could handle. The Warriors were out-hustled and outplayed in every way.
For the Warriors, an 11-point deficit simply is not threatening, especially entering the third quarter, their allotted time of dominance all season long. Did they have one last prolific third quarter to save their season?
They did.
The Warriors shot out to a 21-7 run to take the lead and strip the life within the Toyota Center. Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant made consecutive three-pointers to give the Warriors a 64-61 advantage. Curry summoned his limitless range, making two more consecutive threes, to extend Golden State’s lead to nine.
The Rockets shot 24 percent in the quarter and allowed an 18-point swing to enter the fourth quarter trailing by seven. The Rockets shot 6-25 during the quarter, including 0-14 from three-point range.
Just like that.
How many times have we seen this? Golden State’s postseason run has been punctuated with ridiculous spurts of dominance in the third quarter, including 24-2, 25-4, 18-2 runs during this postseason. Monday night was no different. That the Warriors swung the game with Thompson, who committed his fourth foul early in the quarter, on the bench evidenced their ubiquitous supply of talent (as if another reminder was necessary.)
The Warriors entered the final 12 minutes at a comfortable lead, sure to fend off a furious Houston run. But Golden State’s world-class scorers continued to attack, led by Curry (27 points), Thompson (19 points), and Kevin Durant (34 points).
On the other end of the floor, the Warriors erased Houston’s record-setting three-point offense. The Rockets missed 27 consecutive threes, a new playoff record. Some of them were contested. Many were open. But you have to credit the Warriors’ smothering defense for allowing them to stay close, then stealing the game behind clutch shot-making.
The Warriors had one up-and-down season, but here we are, where seemingly everyone expected them to be, as they attempt to solidify their case as the NBA’s next dynasty.
Onto the NBA Finals we go.