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After losing Game 1 at home, not many gave the Houston Rockets a chance to win this series. Now, they've won 3 out of 4 and are one win away from getting to the NBA Finals for the first time in over 20 years.
Eric Gordon led the way with 24 points, including 10 in the 4th quarter and Chris Paul had 20. Kevin Durant led Golden State with 29 points but disappeared late in the game and the defending champs now find themselves on the brink of elimination at home in Game 6.
Here are the talking points from this one:
#5 The turnovers pile up for Golden State, again
It's quite the simple equation for Golden State really. Don't turn the ball over a lot and you'll usually win the game. They don't like to do things that way apparently. The Warriors turned it over 16 times in this one, the same as Game 4 and it hurt them in a big way, as the offense hardly ever got into a flow thanks to constantly turning the ball over.
As I mentioned before, turnovers determine a lot of games for the Warriors and this series has been no different. They've turned it over 15 or more times thrice in this series and have lost all 3 games. On the flip side, they've turned it over less than 10 times twice and won both games. It'd be one thing if the Rockets were forcing them to turn it over at this rate, but a lot of these turnovers are just careless passes and they have got to get it together for Game 6 or Houston is winning this series.
#4 Both offenses continue to struggle
After 3 blowouts, in which each offense took turns in showing up, both have gone off the boil in the last two games. It's a bit bewildering how the two best offenses in the league have just gone into a shell the last two games. A lot of it for Houston has to do with just missing wide open 3s really. It was the story in this one as well as they probably should have been out of sight by the First Quarter but went 3/14 from deep, which kept the Golden State Warriors in touch.
As for Golden State, these isolations have to come down. They're not an isolation based team, but for whatever reason seem to have chosen that gameplan and it's not working. They went back to their ball movement offense after the 1st Quarter and it seemed to work, but the careless turnovers meant the offense never got into any rhythm.
D'Antoni, however, must be worried about the fact that Houston has shot under 40% from the field in the last 3 games. They won the last two thanks to Golden State's turnovers, but you're not gonna win too many games shooting this poorly. The Rockets are due an explosion from beyond the arc and he would be hoping it happens in one of the next two games.
#3 James Harden struggles
Oh boy, what on earth is going on here?
After a spectacular 1st half in Game 4, in which he scored 23 points, James Harden's offense has completely fallen apart. He had just 7 points in the 2nd half of that one and that poor run continued to Game 5. After missing his last 9 three-pointers in Game 4, he went a ghastly 0/11 in this one and shot 5/21 from the field to finish with 19 points. Going 9/9 from the Free throw line made it look like a better night than it actually was.
Harden's game just looks off at this point, as he's also been missing some freebies at the rim as well, but credit to him for stepping up a bit on defense to compensate for it. He had a key block on Durant in the final few minutes in this one as the Rockets hung on late. While D'Antoni would be thrilled to have won this game, Harden's scoring troubles are bound to be a concern.
#2 Warriors crumble in the clutch again
It's puzzling how a high powered offense like that of Golden State can botch it so badly late in back to back games. Kevin Durant had just 2 points in the 4th quarter and although Steph Curry had 7, none of them came in the last 4 minutes of the game.
A late flurry from Draymond Green was the only reason why Golden State even had a shot at winning this one. It wasn't even as if Houston were that brilliant defensively that Curry and KD just couldn't go off, they just missed wide open shots. Houston did do a good job of defending KD in the post, however.
This one wasn't as bad as the 4th quarter in Game 4 when they only scored 12 points though, but it's quite difficult to be as bad as they were in that one.
Who lets Quinn Cook of all people take arguably the most important shot of the game anyway?
#1 Chris Paul
Chris Paul began this game in the worst way possible. He hadn't scored a field goal in the first half, missing all 7 of his shots. He had 2 points at the half and it seemed like Paul and Harden were about to come up short in arguably the biggest game of the season for the Rockets. Then, something clicked in the 2nd half. Paul had 11 points in the 3rd quarter and 18 in total in the half, as he and Eric Gordon willed the Rockets towards the win.
That isn't the biggest talking point from the game, however. Paul, who was dealing with some calf issues earlier in the series, suffered a hamstring injury late in this one, which could potentially rule him out for the series. With James Harden struggling the way he is right now, the Rockets have absolutely no chance of winning this series without CP3. Here's hoping the injury isn't serious and he'd be back for Game 6.
