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The Houston Rockets proved their credentials as a serious challenger to Golden State's reigning champion status with a clutch performance to bag Game 4 and take back homecourt advantage. In a game when 5 of the 6 All-Stars stepped up big time for their respective teams (we're looking at you, Klay), the Rockets relied on a severely shortened 7-man rotation to keep pace with the Dubs and held their nerve when it mattered most to take home their W.
The Golden State Warriors, on their part, were unable to execute their offense nearly as well as they normally do. They had a season-low 14 assists as a team and turned it over more than they dimed it for the first time this season with 16 turnovers. They also suffered from foul trouble and they clearly missed ace defender Andre Iguodala, who was ruled out with a knee contusion.
It was a happening game with several lead changes, and the back-and-forth was most apparent in the 4th quarter. There were a number of talking points from the game, and we take you through the 5 most important ones as follows:
#5 The Warriors' hot start to the first quarter
Kevon Looney was an unsurprising feature in the team list for this game, as Steve Kerr sought to retain his defense's switching schemes by playing him at the 5.
All 5 Warriors got their name onto the scoresheet during the first stretch of the game when the Warriors ran out to a 12-0 lead to start the quarter. The Rockets' very first points of the game came with 6:42 remaining in the period - their worst start offensively to a postseason game.
At the start, the likes of Looney and Jordan Bell were able to defend effectively on switches, and they locked up the paint area to force some turnovers as Harden tried to get his pick-and-roll play going with Capela, who had a below-par outing this time around.
The Dubs shot 11-of-23 for the quarter, but these figures are marred by a couple of missed tip-ins by Jordan Bell and Kevon Looney - they shot better than 50% on their jump shots. They finished the quarter with a 28-19 lead, and things were looking good at this point.
#4 The Rockets hit back in the second via James Harden
The first quarter saw Harden in a relatively quiet mode, but he quickly got it going early in the second period with a couple of free throws as well as 2 made 3-pointers. All-in-all, Harden scored 17 points in this quarter alone, while Chris Paul recovered from the funk he displayed in the first quarter to get onto the scoresheet with 14 points of his own.
We also saw the best posterizing dunk of the playoffs from James Harden - a player not particularly known for these moments. He got past Kevon Looney off the dribble before throwing it down on Draymond Green's mug while getting the foul call in a sequence that broke NBA twitter down in awe and amazement. He even had 2 steals in consecutive possessions that netted him an assist and a dunk.
The rest of the Rockets also were able to get it going offensively, while they shut down the Warriors to a measly 18 points. They headed into the locker room with a healthy 7-point lead, as the likes of Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant struggled with their shot in this period while Steph was given a rest at the start of this period.
#3 Steph steps up to give the Warriors the lead in the 3rd
There are few sights more impressive than Stephen Curry sinking a pull-up, contested 3-pointer from way downtown, and NBA fans were treated to a hot streak from the 2-time MVP. Curry scored 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting during the third period, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range.
Curry was clearly the hot hand, and once the Warriors sensed this, they kept force-feeding him the ball. In one particular sequence, he handed the ball off to Draymond, ran through the lane, past Klay Thompson on the baseline and obtained an open look from the left corner that he knocked down.
The Warriors won this quarter by 34-17, as they are wont to do in the third quarter of most games. They managed to turn Harden's hot hand cold around this time, and he never heated up for the rest of the game.
#2 The Warriors' 4th quarter troubles
In what is possibly an all-time low for the Kevin Durant-infused version of the Warriors, they managed just 12 points and 3 made field goals in 12 minutes of a quarter. More importantly, this was the one quarter that mattered the most, and they got outscored 25-12!
Their overall offense, which was already down for the first 3 quarters in terms of ball movement and teamplay, just disintegrated in a manner that we've never seen it go. The Warriors were unable to get a single field goal through the last 3:18 of the quarter, by which time the Rockets had taken over the lead after being down by 10 points at the end of the 3rd.
On its own, perhaps this game is just a one-off, but the Warriors are going to have to execute a whole lot better to beat this Rockets team.
#1 The Rockets prove that they're worthy challengers
For the first time in this series, we saw a certain Chris Paul taking control of the game with his offense for any period of time. Through the first 3 games, Paul shot below 50% from the field. The player we saw in Game 4, however, was not your regular Chris Paul - it was a true Point God we saw in action. If you watched the game, there is no way you forget the moment when he broke Steph's ankles for the third time this series (even though he missed the subsequent shot).
In addition to going 10-of-20 from the field, he scored an elite 5-of-9 from downtown, with most of them coming in the second half of the game. At one point, when Curry threatened to lead the Warriors out of the Rockets' sights in the 3rd quarter, Paul quieted the raucous Oracle crowd with his own threes. His haul of 27 points was as instrumental in the Rockets' win as Harden's 30.
Trevor Ariza played some of his best basketball and hit a huge clutch shot in the 4th quarter from the corner to give the Rockets an 85-84 lead. Eric Gordon was instrumental as well, scoring 14 points. Although he was again off from downtown, his lone 3-pointer was the difference-maker, as it put the Rockets up by 5 points with less than 2 minutes left. Gerald Green played much better defense than we've known him play. All-in-all, it was a collective effort that won the Rockets the game, more than anything
