[First Half]
The Rockets in the opening minute were the aggressors, they kept pushing the Warriors out 30 feet and the guards were being aggressive on the offensive end taking the ball to the basket causing Thompson to draw two quick fouls. With being in the bonus with two minutes into the game, the Rockets are able to be rewarded with their aggression. Klay Thompson picks up his third foul, and he'll sit out for a while. All three of those calls were fouls, and he gave Harden absolutely no space on his third foul. This is huge for the Warriors for multiple reasons, first is there is less spacing with Shaun Livingston, second there is one less guard or wing available, and lastly, there is one less good perimeter defender on the Warriors. With the aggression of the Rockets, they are able to go to the free throw line at will with being in the bonus so early. A lot of threes have been hoisted up so far, and that bodes well for the Rockets, and if they get up 40 threes, it is excellent news for them. Offensive rebounding has played a vital role for both teams Houston grabbing five and Golden State grabbing three.
We have yet to see what this entails, but Ryan Anderson is in the game for Capela, and it will be interesting to see if the Warriors try to involve him in the switching action, which I would do if I were Steve Kerr and the Warriors. They went to it twice with a switch on Curry and was successful one time with Curry driving right past him getting a dump down to Looney and the other time Anderson taking a foul with a foul to give. One other interesting thing that we see is D'Antoni playing Joe Johnson with Ryan Anderson. Two players who are really bad defensively but can provide some value on the offensive end. Johnson can create mismatches on switches and Anderson can give tremendous space for Houston. Joe Johnson was fantastic in his minutes that he played and really provided the Rockets with the playmaking they needed while Harden was out in the point guard spot, and also defensive rebounded well.
Two most prominent reasons why the Rockets have this lead is because of Bell's switches onto Harden and Houston's offensive rebounding. The Rockets have 9 offensive rebounds with five second-chance points. And Harden has scored nearly every time he has been Isolated with Harden and Bell has also allowed him to go left almost everytime. The best thing about Harden going left is he is a significantly better passer while going left as the opposite when he is going right. Both teams defense is really taking a break in the middle of the second quarter, and with that, the offense is becoming more critical which the Rockets don't want. If the Rockets keep attacking the glass and attempt a lot of three-pointers, they may be in great shape. Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson have been absolutely horrible this half. There is no excuse for their no show. Durant is not running back in transition, getting beat on the defensive glass, and not involved in the offense at all. Capela is showing up and has played a huge factor in this 11 point Rockets lead at halftime. Capela is crashing the glass, catching lobs up top and dump downs underneath, and is playing superb defense on the perimeter. Capela needed to show up tonight for Houston to win, and he has so far.
[Second Half]
A 10-4 run for the Warriors at the beginning of the half for the Warriors is due to their ability grab offensive rebounds and secure defensive rebounds. They are also playing a lot better defense not allowing Harden to drive and create a five on four advantage. But let's also not look over the Rockets just missing shots. One possession, Houston had Tucker wide open in the corner for three and then off an offensive rebound had Eric Gordon wide open for three. The Rockets have really received a tough whistle in this third quarter with several missed calls. Harden got fouled by Thompson on a three-point attempt, and they called it on the ground, Gordon was hacked on a drive to a basket, Bell did a moving screen on Harden that wasn't called, and Tucker was called for a push in the back on a defensive rebound. The Warriors have capitalized and closed the lead to four with shot making and missing by Houston, who is 0-9 from the three-point line so far in the third quarter.
Third quarters are critical in this series, and when the Rockets haven't had a positive or close to equal point differential in the third quarter, they have lost the game. This game, the Rockets lost to the best third quarter team in the NBA by 18 points, leading to a seven-point lead. With Harden appearing exhausted and Thompson coming in soon, the Rockets are in a lot of trouble. The most concerning item that we see in this game is missing 23 three-pointers in a row. I don't know if it is just inside the Rockets players heads, but they are missing pretty open threes and it really sucks. They're playing hard and just not hitting the open looks. Also, Golden States shot making is really turning on at the right time. The Warriors are able to get it to the big man, and the big man sets the screen and flips it back to the shooters Curry and Thompson.
Hack-A-Capela was employed by Steve Kerr, and it worked really well with Capela missing two of the four free throws while Durant hits two shots on the other end. Durant went in full takeover mode with hitting two contested midrange shots. The Rockets made a little surge at the end of the game, but it was to no avail and quite honestly wouldn't have mattered in reality.
Warriors 101 Rockets 92
This series was fantastic and this game was well fought. Where the Rockets lost this game was the three-point shooting, Chris Paul being injured, and free throws. This three-point shooting performance will be haunting for the Rockets in years to come, they just couldn't throw a rock into the ocean. Houston shot 7/44 which is 15.9% while the Warriors shot 15/39 which was 41%. This decimated the Rockets and was really the difference in the game and the reason why the Rockets lost. Chris Paul being hurt was pretty much the series for the Rockets while it gave James Harden no chance to rest on offense and allowed the Warriors to relax on defense. But also this was detrimental for the Rockets in their guard depth and just being short of talent with the Warriors four all-stars. Lastly, the free throws for the Rockets were killer because if you are able to get 22 free throws up, you should hit better than 59%. This is just unfortunate for the Rockets, and the minor things are what can bite you the most and the Hack-A-Capela was so vital in this game while the Warriors had the lead. It got Houston out of their flow and kept the safety net more secure by fouling Capela and keeping the distance with Capela's two missed free throws at the end of the fourth. It was a fun series, and the highest level of basketball we've seen in two years since the Cavs and Warriors in 2016.
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