The Rockets are in desperation mode tonight as they head into game two of the Western Conference Finals down 0-1 with homecourt. They need to win this game to have any chance to win the series. Here is my summary of game two of the Western Conference Finals:
[First Half]
The Rockets played well in the first quarter providing solid defense on the switching, and again, Harden continues to get burned when he is Isolated on to any kind of good offensive player, in particular, Curry and Durant. Harden's overall net value is positive, but you would have to think his defense is hurting them a lot. Eric Gordon has been great contributing with his three-point shot and his ability to dribble and create separation, one play he kicked it out to Tucker for a three-pointer. Steve Kerr alluded to it during the broadcast, that since the Warriors won a game, they become lazy and pass the ball everywhere. They had a ton of turnovers and went 0/7 from three in the first quarter. The Warriors in the first half were continually getting beat in transition, one leading to a Capela basket. In the middle of the second quarter, the Warriors became extremely lazy and thus lead to a turnover, Draymond complaining while not getting back in transition and leading to a three-pointer, putting them up 12. The Warriors began to play a lot better defensively and went on 9-2 run to cut the game within 5. But the story of the game so far is P.J Tucker who was fantastic in the first half not only defensively, but offensively as well, hitting three corner threes. He has been the wing play that the Rockets desperately needed. He then had the audacity to put Green in the post and score on him, next, they put him back in the post, and then he dishes out to Ariza from three. The most significant difference I saw was the ball movement, and player movement that the Rockets employed has been a considerable benefit to the Rockets in which something I criticized them for in the first game for. They are still playing with their three and key style, but now are moving while the ISO is going on, causing the Warriors to scramble. Quite frankly, the Warriors are a complete mess defensively, allowing dribble penetration and are getting beat at the point of attack.
[Second Half]
The Warriors struggled mightily on both ends, but the Rockets defense and shot making were both phenomenal. The Warriors seemed to take poor shots all throughout the game, but it was something that the Rockets were forcing them to do, so all of the mid-range jumpers you saw the Warriors take are a by-product of the Rockets switching. They allowed Durant to have his while running Thompson off the three-point line and Curry is just not playing well. They never quite exploited the Harden switch like they usually do, and the Rockets "scram" when Paul and Harden are in the post against Durant. Some aspects that lead to the victory for the Warriors in game one were; shotmaking, not turning the ball over, and defense. They did none of that during game two. They weren't able to make shots, a lot of it a byproduct of Houston's defense, they turned the ball over like crazy in the first half and parts of the second half, because of their laziness with the ball and again, the Rockets defense. Lastly, the Warriors defense was porous. They allowed a ton of transition opportunities, the help side defense rotated too far down allowing a ton of open corner threes. When they didn't rotate over, it was an easy layup at the basket.
That is the overall thing I saw from this game; the Rockets played "money ball." As you may not know, money ball is a concept in which you use the numbers in which will be the most favorable in order for your team to win. In this game, the Rockets went to the basket or "restricted area" while also getting up corner three-point shots. Since common knowledge is that three-point shots and restricted area shots or layups are the most valuable shots in basketball, the Rockets got to these shots successfully, they shot 77% in the restricted area and 66% from the corner three. The two most valuable shots in basketball they shot them extraordinary well, and it's not like these are in small amounts of shots, Houston shot 35 (!!!) shots in the restricted area and 12 (!!!) shots from the corner three. This lead to the Rocket's victory more than anything. This, adding on playing phenomenal defense, lead this game to be a blowout.
An all-around team effort lead to this win for Houston, but the standouts were by far P.J Tucker and Eric Gordon. Tucker was open in the corner and shot the lights out. He was 5-6 from the corner three and 3-3 in the restricted area. Eric Gordon was attacking off the dribble, hitting tough contested shots and being successful at the above-the-break three. A great sign for the Rockets and a concern for the Warriors is that Chris Paul and James Harden didn't play great. Golden State has to adjust to taking more efficent shots and play better defense if they want the dub going back to Golden State.
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