Nothing summed up Game 4 better than the final meaningful Warriors’ possession of the night.
With :11.1 seconds left in the game, Golden State inbounded the ball and thanks to a James Harden missed free throw was down three, 111-108. The play ended up with first Kevin Durant then, after an offensive rebound, Stephen Curry getting clean looks to tie the game. Both missed.
It’s a make or miss league and the Warriors were missing all night.
The Warriors shot 8-of-33 from three and that — combined with another unstoppable night from Harden where he had 38 points — led to a 112-108 Houston win.
This is the tight, intense series we thought we’d get going in, and it is now 2-2 with both teams having held serve on their home court. Game 5 is Wednesday night back in Oakland.
For the past four years, when the Warriors have had a playoff loss they have almost always bounced back with an improved defensive effort. James Harden has blown that trend up, especially as the Rockets try to force switches to target Curry and wear him down (which has worked). Harden was 7-of-11 in the paint and 6-of-17 from three on his way to 38 points and nine assists in Game 4.
The Rockets played with urgency and played their game — pushing the pace when they could, shooting threes (56.2 percent of their shot attempts were from three), and pressuring on defense. It worked, in part because Harden got help. Eric Gordon had 20 points and continued his trend of outplaying Klay Thompson in this series (Thompson had 11 points on 15 shots). P.J. Tucker had 17 points hit three from beyond the arc, and did as well as anyone is going to on Kevin Durant defensively. Austin Rivers had 10 points. It all came together for Houston.
That despite another monster night from Kevin Durant who had 34 points on 12-of-22 shooting. Curry finished the night with 30 points and attacked the rim more, but was 4-of-14 from three.
After two wins at home, the Warriors thought they were in control of this series, but much like they did in the regular season the Rockets have bounced back from a slow start to put themselves very much in the mix. This is now the series we thought we would get — the Rockets have the formula to beat the Warriors and are catching the breaks they need.
This series between these two teams was tied 2-2 a year ago in the Conference Finals and the home team — that time Houston — won Game 5. Then the Warriors won the next two. Golden State has always been able to find another gear when it matters, but we have seen less of that this season. They need to find that gear Wednesday night, or they will be on the brink of elimination
