The Warriors Poured It On In The Second Half To Force A Game 7 Against The Rockets

It’s official: Both conference finals series are heading to a Game 7. The Cleveland Cavaliers made sure of that on Friday night, defending their home court against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference. One day later and the Golden State Warriors followed suit, riding a strong third quarter en route to a 115-86 win over the Houston Rockets.

Neither team came into the game healthy, as the Rockets were without the services of Chris Paul and the Warriors didn’t have Andre Iguodala. Both teams had to find replacements for their offensive playmakers who pester opponents on defense, something the home team managed to do better.

Houston came out scorching, though, hitting eight threes in the first quarter to put Golden State at arm’s length. Despite Paul’s absence, the Rockets’ hot shooting gave them a 39-22 lead at the end of the game’s first period.

Slowly but surely, the Warriors managed to chip away. Golden State’s propensity to ramp it up while on their home floor during the postseason was evident — no team is as good at responding to a raucous home crowd as Steve Kerr’s bunch, and even with Iguodala nursing a sore knee, it was still on display. They managed to cut Houston’s lead all the way down to five at one point in the frame.

But still, the Rockets were able to enter the half holding the defending champions at arm’s length despite 11 first half turnovers, taking a 61-51 lead into the locker room. James Harden (22), Eric Gordon (16), and Trevor Ariza (14) had 52 of those points carrying the weight for the Rockets. Golden State had three players shoulder most of the scoring load — Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson had 14, Steph Curry had 13 — but Houston’s marksmen from downtown were the difference early on, going 11-for-22 from deep. (Conversely, the Warriors were 4-for-18 from three at the half.)

As has been the case over the multi-year run the Warriors are on, though, the avalanche came at the start of the third quarter. Golden State immediately raced out to a 13-0 run, the catalyst for what ended up being a huge quarter.

This is, usually, what the Warriors use to bury teams. Sure, they outscored Houston 33-16 in the frame and led 84-77 at the end of the quarter, but far more importantly, Golden State just hit shot after shot to slowly but surely demoralize the Rockets. That was especially true of Thompson, who had 12 points in the frame and was a general marksman from downtown.

And of course, there was Curry, who did ludicrous stuff like this, because he’s Wardell Stephen Curry II.

The fourth quarter ended up being much of the same. Here’s Thompson burying a three from way behind the arc to cause the roof to blow off of Oracle Arena and give Golden State a 12-point lead.

Just prior to that — in a sentence I have always wanted to type — Nick Young dropped an absolute dime. Swaggy P laid this ball off perfectly to set up a dunk for Shaun Livingston.

All of this paled in comparison to what might have been the coolest moment of the game. Warriors guard Patrick McCaw, active for the first time since a back injury in March, took the floor and knocked down the first shot he attempted.

The Warriors boat raced the Rockets in the second half, outscoring them 64-25 over the game’s final 24 minutes. Thompson was outstanding, leading all scorers with 35 points on 13-for-23 shooting and a 9-for-14 clip from downtown. Curry had 29 points and hit five of his 14 threes, while Durant had 23. Harden, meanwhile, led Houston with a 32-point, nine-assist, seven-rebound, three-steal outing.

Everything now comes down to a Game 7 on Monday night. Houston has home-court advantage, but that may not matter if Paul is unable to go. Even if he does play, there’s no guarantee he’ll be 100 percent due to his injured hamstring. Add in that the Warriors have the whole “we’ve played in a million big games” thing in their corner and Monday night is shaping up to be a fitting end to a fantastic series.

But hey, we get two Game 7s to determine which teams will get the chance to compete for an NBA championship. If you’re a basketball fan, it doesn’t get much better than this.