NOT STRONG ENOUGH
Warriors come up empty late; Rockets rally to even series, 2-2
OAKLAND >> All Stephen Curry feels he ever needs is one shot.
The Warriors guard only needs one shot to spark a shooting streak. He only needs one shot to rile up the Warriors fans at Oracle Arena. And he only needs one shot to turn an uncertain outcome into a definitive one.
Unfortunately for the Warriors, that cut both ways in a 9592 Game 4 loss to the Rockets on Tuesday at Oracle Arena that tied the Western Conference Finals, 2-2, and gave the Rockets homecourt advantage entering Game 5 on Thursday in Houston.
Curry scored a team-high 28 points albeit on 10-of-26 shooting, missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 0.5 seconds left and shot only 1 of 8 in the fourth quarter. The Warriors would not have been in such a position to win, however, without Curry’s third-quarter play. Then, Curry scored 17 points, while shooting 6 of 10 from the field and 5 of 8 from 3-point range.
“I could sit here and nitpick all you want,” Curry said. “I had some decent looks that didn’t go down, but that’s not why we lost.”
The Warriors lost this way. Warriors forward Draymond Green split a pair of foul shots to cut the Rockets’ lead to 94-92 with 37.2 seconds left. After Rockets guard James Harden killed some clock, Curry successfully contested his step-back jumper. Green grabbed the rebound and passed to Durant with 12.2 seconds left. Warriors coach Steve Kerr resisted calling timeout.
“I’m always a proponent of pushing the ball off of a miss rather than taking a timeout and letting the defense set up,” Kerr said. “I thought we’d get a better shot in transition. That’s why I let them play.”
So, Durant dribbled down the court and threw a bounce pass to Warriors guard Klay Thompson in the corner. With Thompson facing a timeout four seconds remaining, Green said he “tried calling timeout.” But as Kerr observed, “once he got trapped, at that point the officials weren’t
looking and they’re not going to look down at our bench.”
Therefore, Thompson turned around and shot a 16-foot jumper that airballed. Afterwards, Thompson said, “you have to think on your feet and just try to get a shot.” Durant added he “maybe should have waited until (Thompson) set his feet.”
“That’s not the reason we lost the game. I wish it could have been a better possession at the end,” Durant said. “I definitely wish I had that last play game. So I’m going to watch film and see what my options were. Hopefully if I’m in that position again, I’ll be better.”
Warriors guard Shaun Livingston then was called for a foul that set up Chris Paul making only the second of two foul shots for a 95-92 lead with 0.5 seconds left. The Warriors then inbounded to Curry for a 3-pointer that hit iron as time expired.
“You don’t know how long you can catch, turn and do that whole thing. So maybe rushed it a little bit,” Curry said. “Decent look, but you wish the game didn’t come down to that.”
It did not appear the Warriors would need to worry after opening the game with 12 unanswered points. But then they did. Curry picked up his third foul as the Warriors led, 38-36, with 5:06 left in the second quarter, which Kerr called “a big stretch in the game.” The Rockets took their first lead of the game with a 4443 cushion with 2:22 left in the second quarter. They then held a 53-46 halftime lead.
But after finishing with only eight points on 3-of-8 shooting in the first half, Curry provided a highlight reel in the third quarter. He opened the second half with a 28-foot 3-point shot. Nearly six minutes later, Curry made consecutive shots from 29 and 26 feet, respectively, for a 63-62 lead with 5:21 left. Then, Green passed up an open 3-pointer for Curry to drain one in the corner for a 66-62 cushion with 4:48 left. He followed that play up with a finger roll.
Curry could not replicate those shots in the fourth quarter, though. He missed a 20-foot step-back jumper, a layup and a 17-foot jumper.
Kerr then inserted Durant for Curry at the 9:59 in hopes to give him a quick breather, while the Warriors trailed 82-74. When Curry entered the game as the Warriors trailed 8279 with 7:58 left, he still struggled making shots.
He missed a 28-foot shot as the Warriors trailed 8786 with 5:04 left. Though Curry converted on a three-point play — a layup and a foul shot — that cut the Rockets’ lead to 91-89 with 3:18 remaining, Curry
then committed a turnover and missed another 3-pointer.
Kerr conceded fatigue affected a roster that missed Andre Iguodala (left lateral leg contusion), as Green (45 minutes), Durant (43 minutes), Thompson (39 minutes) and Curry (38 minutes) all assumed a heavy workload. Did that fatigue contribute to Curry’s poor fourth-quarter shooting numbers?
“I don’t know. It’s tough
out there,” said Kerr, mentioning the Warriors (39.3 percent) and Rockets (39 percent) both shot poorly.
After all, Durant also had only 27 points on 9-of-24 shooting, including a 1-of-5 mark in the fourth quarter. Thompson had only 10 points on 4-of13 shooting after playing through a left knee strain. Meanwhile, Harden had 30 points on 11-of-26 shooting, while Rockets guard Chris Paul added 27 points on a 10-of-20 clip.