San Francisco (AFP) – The Houston Rockets rode a crushing fourth quarter to a 115-107 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday to set up a game-seven showdown in their NBA Western Conference playoff series. The Rockets will be trying to become just the 14th team to rally from 3-1 down to win an NBA playoff series when they host game seven on Sunday.
Fred VanVleet scored 29 points and Alperen Sengun added 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Rockets, who led most of the game and silenced an 18,000-strong crowd at the Warriors’ Chase Center arena with an explosive fourth quarter—putting together a 12-0 scoring run in the final frame to push their lead to as many as 17. Amen Thompson added 14 points for Houston, and veteran New Zealand big man Steven Adams contributed 17 points off the bench, connecting on four of four from the floor while providing a formidable defensive presence.
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Adams had three of Houston’s five blocked shots as the Rockets kept the Warriors’ potent offense, led by Stephen Curry, in check. Curry scored 29 points, but he connected on just nine of 23 shots from the field and turned the ball over five times. Jimmy Butler added 27 points, but no other Warriors starter scored in double figures.
“Just make everything tough,” VanVleet said of the Rockets’ mindset as they took a two-point lead into the fourth quarter. “Obviously we know what they bring to the table. You want to make everything tough, contest everything … I just think our youth and our athleticism can wear on them over the course of the game, and we’re able to have some success lately.”
Overwhelmed early in game five on Friday, the Warriors got off to a marginally better start, but in a nip-and-tuck first quarter that featured 10 lead changes, they never led by more than two. Houston was up 25-21 at the end of the first period. A Curry three-pointer tied it at 46-46 with 1:59 left in the first half, but again the Rockets pulled away to lead 53-48 after a first half in which the Warriors committed 11 turnovers.
“That’s the key to the whole series is our ball security,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. Houston led 86-84 going into the fourth, but VanVleet drilled a three-pointer in the opening seconds, drawing a foul and making the free throw in a sign of what was to come. “I thought the key play was a four-point play to start the (fourth) quarter,” Kerr said. “We didn’t guard VanVleet, they threw it up the floor and he knocks it down and gets the free throw, and it felt like a game-changing play.” Draymond Green added: “We can’t give up a four-point play in a two-point game.”
Kerr also singled out 31-year-old Adams, whose 31 minutes on the floor were his season-high. “Adams was fantastic tonight,” Kerr said. “They controlled the game while he was out there.” The Warriors resorted to fouling Adams, a low-percentage free throw shooter, but he made nine of 16 foul shots, and the Rockets managed to grab the rebounds of a couple of his misses to score anyway.
The winners of the series will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves, who ousted the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.
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