The Warriors Beat The Rockets In Game 1 After A Bizarre Ending That Saw Chris Paul Ejected

The long awaited rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals between the Rockets and Warriors began in Oakland on Sunday, but those looking for a beautiful matchup between two elite teams instead got one of the sloppiest games of the postseason.

Both teams’ worst offensive attributes were on display, as the Warriors couldn’t stop throwing the ball away to the tune of 19 turnovers, while the Rockets had an abysmal night from three-point range, hitting just 13-of-44 from downtown. Defensively, there were great efforts from both teams to force some of those offensive issues, but neither team seemed especially sharp on the end they are best known for.

Still, despite being a disjointed rock fight for most of the proceedings, the two teams found themselves in a closely contested affair in the closing minutes. The Warriors turned to Kevin Durant, who had 35 points on 11-of-25 shooting and was able to work his midrange magic to give Golden State a three-point advantage late.

For Houston, it was Eric Gordon who kept them in the game with great second half play, including some big threes late on an otherwise lean night from distance for the Rockets.

James Harden was the leading scorer for Houston, as is typically the case, but needed 26 shot attempts to get his 33 points, a far more inefficient night than he’s accustomed to. Still, he cut the Warriors lead to two in the final minute with an and-1 layup, giving Houston hope for a stop and a chance to tie or take the lead on the final possession. As he is wont to do, Steph Curry, despite a 4-of-12 night prior, got a switch onto Nene and toyed with the veteran big man on the right wing before crossing over to his right and draining a dagger three to put Golden State up 103-98.

A Harden dunk got it back to a three-point deficit, but the Warriors had under 24 seconds to go and it seemed it would go to the foul game. That is, until Chris Paul forced the 20th Golden State turnover of the game by poking the ball away from Kevin Durant, leading to one of the most bizarre final sequences of a game we’ve seen all season.

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Harden failed to draw the foul on a three-pointer for what seemed like the 10th time in the game, as contact by the landing spot was not called consistently during Game 1. On this instance there was definite contact, but Harden swung his feet towards Green pretty aggressively, to no avail.

Still, Chris Paul managed to grab the offensive board and keep the Rockets alive, only to get a no-call when he ran into Klay Thompson trying to pass to Eric Gordon, and Gordon was out of bounds when he touched the ball. Incensed, Paul picked up his second technical foul and was ejected, giving the Warriors a free throw and the ball up three with four seconds to play. They hit the free throw and Houston didn’t foul, leading to a 104-100 win.