Harden, Gordon make splash to even series
HOUSTON — James Harden and Eric Gordon each scored 27 points to lead a balanced attack, and the Rockets routed the Warriors 127- 105 on Wednesday to even the Western Conference finals at one game apiece.
The Rockets didn’t trail after the first quarter and led by double digits for most of the game. They head to Oakland, California, for Game 3 on Sunday night feeling much better after rebounding from a deflating 119106 loss in the series opener.
“We can beat anybody, anywhere at any time playing the way we play,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said.
P. J. Tucker added a playoff career- high 22 points and Trevor Ariza had 19 as both bounced back after struggling in Game 1. Tucker had only one point in that game, and Ariza scored eight but was limited on defense after picking up his fifth foul early in the third quarter.
Kevin Durant had 38 points after scoring 37 in the opener, but Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for only 24 after the pair went for 46 in Game 1.
Houston wasn’t able to slow down Durant, but it did a much better job of limiting open threepointers by Thompson and Curry, who went a combined 3- for- 12 from three- point range.
“They were desperate tonight and played like it, and we weren’t, and it showed,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
The Warriors made three free throws to close to 11 early in the fourth quarter before the Rockets scored the next 11 points, with threes from Gordon, Tucker and Harden to make it 111- 89 with about 6 ½ minutes to play.
Durant made a basket after that, but Houston scored the next eight points to increase the lead to 119- 91 with about five minutes left.
The Warriors got frustrated during that stretch, with Durant getting a technical for shoving Harden in the back and Draymond Green pushing Ariza out of bounds seconds later. It was then that Kerr sent all of his starters to the bench for good.
“We got outplayed the whole game; we got it handed to us,” Kerr said. “You can look at it any way you want and parcel it out, but it didn’t matter who we had out there tonight, we got beat.”
This and that
Ex- Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer agreed in principle to a four- year contract to coach the Bucks, a source told the Associated Press.
The Rockets’ James Harden, the Cavaliers’ LeBron James and the Pelicans’ Anthony Davis are the finalists for the MVP award.