Photo Credit; Yalanda Charles/ossports
With Eric Gordon suffering a dreadful shooting night, going 0-for-9 from 3-point land, and Draymond Green countering with unexpected treys, the Rockets had to feel good about coming away with the edge. An unlikely three-point shooter, Green, who finished 2-of-3 from the arch, scored 21 points, eight rebounds and had seven steals. Gordon’s disappointing day produced only six points.
But more importantly, Houston snapped the Warriors 14-game winning streak while defeating Golden State in two out of three games this season. The most recent watched a sold-out crowd at the Toyota Center cheer on the Rockets to a 116-108 victory on Saturday night.
In the winding moments, Rockets’ defense forced Klay Thompson into three erroneous shots – all from three-point land. Following, Harden fired a trey before sprinting down the court to block Curry’s shot. Then, Durant pulled up for an off-balanced three-pointer with 40 seconds left. That allowed Chris Paul’s late free throws to close out the scoring as the Rockets came away with its second victory over Golden State this season.
Coach Steve Kerr did not feel like the Warriors played well enough to win and also said, Houston is a great team. All things were not bad for Golden State. Green pushed passed the 4,000th point for a career-best of (4019) and also collected his 3,000th rebound with seven on the night.
Five Rockets (36-13) finished the game in double figures. Paul led the way with 33 points, 6-of-11 from the three-point line. Harden scored 22, Capela added 18, L. Mbah a Mouta had 14 and Tucker poured in 12.
With the loss of Trevor Ariza and Gerald Green serving game two of a two-game suspension for a quarrel with the Clippers and Harden playing in his second game since suffering a strained hamstring, the Rockets are counting its blessings.
Houston shot 47.1 compared to the Warriors 48.8 percent for the game. But the Rockets defense down the stretch made the difference.
For the Warriors (40-11), it was a night of missed opportunities.
The fourth quarter opened tightly contested with the rockets leading 92-91. That would be short lived as Green dial up a trey to tie the game at 94. Then Nick Young’s layup gave Golden State the lead, 96-94. After, the game traded baskets until PJ Tucker connected on a three-pointer from the left baseline to push Houston ahead, 108-106.
Durant led four Warriors in double figures with 26 points. Green scored 21, Curry added 19, and Young finished with 16.
It was the first time Golden State loss on the road since November 22nd.
Houston led by as many as 12 points to close out the first quarter, 40-28. It continued to hold a minimum lead as the rockets received team supports from all of its starters except for a surprisingly cold shooting Gordon.
In the second quarter, Paul drained a three-pointer to give the Rockets its largest lead of the game, 64-47 with under three minutes left. However, Golden State snatched the momentum when it closed out the half with an 11-1 run to cut into the Rockets lead, 65-58. The impressive series began with Durant’s layup, he followed it with a free throw, Green shot two free throws, Curry and Thompson netted three-pointers.
As the game progressed, Golden State could never piece together a more extensive run to overtake the Rockets.