Western Conference Finals: Game Five

The winner of game five gains 30% in their chance to win the series. This game between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors is for all the eggs and all the bacon. Here is my summary for game five of the Western Conference Finals:

[First Half]

Genuinely fantastic defense by the Rockets, from last game bleeding into this game, the Rockets have switched and denied the ball all the way out to 30 feet. This switching forces a team like the Warriors who don't have the greatest athleticism to have to beat someone off the dribble from 30 feet rather than 24-20 feet. They are very comfortable with the switching and are allowing Harden to defend whoever. The only resemblance of offense the Warriors got in the first couple of minutes were long rebounds off of missed three-pointers and turnovers leading to transition and the only half court offense they have gotten in the first few minutes were off of Durant posts. The Warriors are only two points behind because they Rockets have missed a ton of open three-pointers going 0-6 at the start before hitting a three right out of a timeout. Gerald Green to me has been a standout defensively because usually, he is so bad on that end of the floor. Even if he's just a net 0, it is huge for the Rockets he got out on Curry for a contested three and made Curry pick up his dribble on another defensive possession. Green is also playing great on the offensive end, hitting two tough contested corner threes which were very important to keep the Rockets offense blood pumping. 

It feels as though the Rockets have complete control over this game and they're only up nine with two minutes left in the first quarter. The Warriors do a good job at understanding they can't get going in the half court, so they are setting very high screens to create a five on four in the half court and got a couple of buckets to trim the lead to six. 

The Rockets can get a lot of three-point attempts, and that is massive for the Rockets success they like to play money ball which is baskets from three and the restricted area, and the Rockets have attempted 16 threes and ten restricted ara shots in the first 14 minutes of play. The Warriors haven't done an excellent job at taking advantage of attacking and have allowed Houston to play more freely because of the countless opportunities they have given them. They have turned the ball over like crazy and also have attacked the basket poorly and have allowed the Rockets to swipe at the ball and strip them and allowed Capela to recover and protect the rim. WIth Paul and Harden struggling, it is bad news for Golden State because if these guys start hitting shots, the Rockets can blow this game wide open. 

I mentioned earlier how I felt as though the Rockets had complete control and yet they are only up nine. Yet, I have the same feeling, and now they're just up three. Durant is keeping Golden State in the game by his robust shot making and being efficient in doing so. The best thing that the Warriors are doing is pressuring the Rockets in transition off of makes, misses, and turnovers. Their better defense has to lead to the better offense because they Rockets are not a great transition team with the Rockets struggling in transition, Golden State can draw more fouls because it feels like they're scrambling. With how well it felt the Rockets played in the first half, it's concerning that they're tied at halftime. 

[Second Half]

Chris Paul really started out fantastic and opened a lot of things for the Rockets with ease the pressure of Harden by taking the ball and being aggressive. The most significant item I was questioned coming into the third quarter was how the Rockets were going to handle the punches thrown by the best third quarter team this season in Golden State. They have kept at even keel. Draymond has made an impact in this third quarter with great defense on Capela and not allowing the lobs underneath. Harden has to play better for Houston to win if he can hit his three-point shot, a lot of this would be alleviated. As crazy as this sounds, it feels like Harden is hurting his team more than anything at this moment. He isn't looking for his teammates when they're open from three or on cuts to the basket and instead settling on step back threes that he isn't hitting. I also feel like the Rockets are missing shots, where the Warriors are missing shots because of the defense played by Houston. I consider a one-point game for the Rockets a massive success. 

The David West on Chris Paul switch has been utterly disastrous for the Warriors, and Chris Paul has scored on three or four straight baskets and the minutes without Harden been a success so far in the fourth quarter because of Paul's success. With eight minutes in the fourth quarter, D'Antoni put Harden back in the game, and this will be the final stretch. Really bad officiating has reared its ugly head during the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter to the six and a half minute mark. With this stretch, it allowed an Eric Gordon three-shot foul and Durant and Harden free throws. I don't think the Warriors have learned their lesson about not realizing Gordon is incredibly strong and has been an enormous determent, thinking that they can go in the post with him and Green and it hasn't worked because they can't get in their spots. With inside penetration created, Harden kicked out to Gordon on a wide open three.

Rockets 98 Warriors 94

There are a lot of huge plays at the end of this game, but the two that stand out to me was Houston's fantastic defense where Draymond could've grabbed the offensive rebound but instead tried to swat the ball out. The last play was Curry passing it to Draymond at his knees and Draymond not completing the catching process and looked ahead and dropped the ball ending the game. The three most significant reasons why the Rockets won were Eric Gordon playing fantastic. Gordon put pressure on the Warriors with his shooting and attacking the basket while being strong in the post. The second key to the victory was offensive rebounding for Houston. Houston grabbed eight offensive rebounds, and those lead to several points. And lastly, was the Rockets ability to attempt 43 three point attempts. If you allow the Rockets to attempt that many threes, you're going to lose.