Minus Curry, Warriors go down in Houston, 97-96.
HOUSTON — Draymond Green said he cost the Warriors the playoff game.
Without Stephen Curry, the Warriors had little room for error on the road. While they scratched and clawed their way back from a 17-point deficit to take a lead into the final minute of the game, they fell 97-96 in Game 3 to the Houston Rockets on Thursday.
The Warriors’ lead in the firstround series was cut to 2-1 after Curry wasn’t able to play for a second straight game due to an ankle injury and James Harden scored the go-ahead basket on a shot over Andre Iguodala with 2.7 seconds left to finish with a game-high 35 points.
Green then lost the ball after receiving the inbound pass for his seventh turnover of the game.
“We don’t do moral victories,” Green said. “It’s nothing
like that. But just to continue to fight like that says a lot about this group. But I cost us the game.”
Green said he wasn’t referring to the final play, but how he wasn’t able execute and play with intensity throughout the game.
The Warriors had beaten the Rockets twice without Curry — once in the regular season and in Game 2 — and nearly did it again.
Ian Clark, playing guard in crunchtime, put the Warriors ahead with a floater to give the Warriors a 94-93 lead with 1:25 left.
Shaun Livingston stole an inbound pass and passed to Clark for a layup to give the Warriors 96-95 lead with 10.6 seconds left.
Marreese Speights came off the bench to lead the Warriors with 22 points. Livingston, starting in place of Curry, had 16 points on a night when Klay Thompson missed all seven 3-point attempts and finished with 17 points.
It wasn’t enough, with the Warriors shooting 6 for 25 from 3-point range, getting out-rebounded 52-43 and struggling in the first half.
“We’ve got to play better as a team,” coach Steve Kerr said. “Whether Steph’s here or not, we should perform at a high level, which we did for much of the game, but we’ve got to eliminate some of the mistakes that we made.
“We’ve got a lot of depth on this team. We should be able to win games even when guys are out — even if it’s the MVP. And we had our chance.”
Livingston had the steady hand starting in place of Curry. He hit three midrange jump shots in a row to cut the Rockets’ lead to 81-80 with 8:59 left.
The Rockets kept throwing figurative haymakers at the Warriors. Harden hit his fourth 3-pointer and followed that up with two free throws to give the Rockets an 86-80 lead. Donatas Motiejunas hit one from beyond the arc that pushed the lead to 91-83 with 4:39 left. Harden ultimately buried the game-winner.
“For me, I thrive in moments like this, so you just have to have confidence,” Harden said.”
The Rockets promised to be more physical in the game. Jason Terry set a hard screen that sent Iguodala to the floor. They threw lobs inside to Dwight Howard. They claimed a large rebounding edge on the Warriors.
Harden completed a 4point play after Green was whistled for a foul to give the Rockets a 66-56 lead in the third quarter. Green with 41 seconds left in the game was also called for a loose ball foul that allowed Michael Beasley to hit two free throws to give Houston a 95-94 lead.
The Warriors trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half, considering themselves very fortunate to go into the locker room at halftime trailing 55-48.
The tone of the game changed a bit when Andrew Bogut locked his arms with Howard, committing a loose ball foul but angering the Rockets big man. Howard angrily fired the ball back in Bogut’s direction and was whistled for a technical foul.
The Warriors went on a 9-0 run to finish the half, capped off by Speights hitting a 3-pointer. Speights led the Warriors with 14 first-half points, going 3 for 3 from beyond the arc.
Plenty went wrong early on for the Warriors. Bogut and Livingston were both on the bench with two fouls before midway through the first quarter.
With Livingston dealing with foul trouble, Clark was pressed into action. Festus Ezeli also picked up two fouls while filling in for Bogut, leading to playing time for James Michael McAdoo.
The first quarter concluded with the Warriors trailing 31-18, as they committed six turnovers that the Rockets turned into 10 points.
Terry came off the bench to hit two 3-pointers in the second to give the Rockets a 50-35 lead.
Harden hit a 3-pointer to give himself 17 points in the first half and push the Rockets’ lead to 17.
“We didn’t want to pack our bags and go home,” Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.