Down to their last shot
Rockets outlast Warriors in Game 5 to take 3-2 series lead
HOUSTON – It wasn’t pretty. Nor was the result.
The Warriors walked away with a 98-94 loss to the Houston Rockets in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Thursday. The Warriors trail the Rockets, 3-2, and Houston could close out the series in Game 6 on Saturday at Oracle Arena.
This marks the first time since acquiring Kevin Durant last summer that the Warriors have faced a playoff elimination game. Coach Steve Kerr saw the good in that.
“We’re two wins from making the NBA Finals. It’s a pretty good worst situation to be in,” Kerr said. “We’re right there. We found some things tonight that worked for us. I’m extremely confident we’ll take care of business. We just have to be a little sharper.”
The Warriors might want to sharpen up their late-game execution.
Unlike in the Warriors’ Game 4 loss, they called timeout to set up their final play. But the end result was the same.
Trailing 96-94 with 6.7 seconds to play, the Warriors inbounded to Stephen Curry. He passed ahead to Draymond Green, but Green couldn’t come up with the ball cleanly. Rockets guard Eric Gordon stole it, was fouled and sank two free throws to end matters.
The Warriors failed in other big moments as well. Reserve guard Quinn Cook missed an uncontested 3-point attempt with 42.7 seconds left. Curry missed a seven-foot floater the next time down. All of which summed up an ugly night. Kevin Durant had 29 points, but he shot 8-of-22 from the field and missed all four of his attempts in the fourth quarter. Klay Thompson had 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting, logging a game-high 43 minutes on a sore knee, but committed four of the Warriors’ 18 turnovers. Curry added 22 points on 8-of-17 shooting, but he only went 2-of-8 from 3-point range.
The Rockets won despite terrible shooting nights from Chris Paul (20 points on 6-of-19 shooting) and James Harden (19 points on 5-of21 shooting, including 0 for 11 from the arc).
If they can close out the Warriors on Saturday night at Oracle, they might need to do it without Paul. He injured his right hamstring in the fourth quarter, left the floor and never returned. The Rockets said they would evaluate Paul’s condition today.
Rockets coach Mike D’antoni said Gordon would take over point-guard duties if necessary. Gordon was huge Thursday night, coming off the bench for 24 points.
The Warriors, playing without Andre Iguodala (knee) for the second game in a row, got only four points from its bench.
Kerr defended Durant’s high-volume shooting despite encouraging him in the third quarter to trust his teammates more.
“The guy is such an amazing talent and he does so much for us,” Kerr said of Durant. “You have to go to him on the block and put the ball in his hands. I’m sure there are some shots he’d like to have back. But he kept us in it.”