NBA: Thanks to CP3 – Rockets the series of Warriors ends

After 14 consecutive away victories, the game is over: The Golden State Warriors (37-10) are beating the Houston Rockets (32-12) with 116:108 (BOXSCORE). In the duel between the two best teams of the Western Conference, the Dubs and Rockets don’t give themselves anything at all. In the end, the strong Chris Paul is the decisive factor.

During his comeback after a break from injury last Thursday against the Timberwolves, James Harden was still quite rusty – there was nothing left to be seen against Golden State from the beginning. In the beginning minutes, The Beard hit the guests with three threesomes, his colleagues were obviously also infected by this offensive frenzy.

In the first quarter alone, Houston pocketed 7 threesomes (a total of 68.2 percent from the field) and gained an early lead. Although the Rockets began the second section of the race much more restrained, the hosts increased their lead to 17 points. It was not until an 11-1 run just before the half-time break that the Warriors returned to the game, so that they were back in striking distance after 24 minutes (65:58 for Houston).

In the third section, the situation was accordingly balanced. The two best offensives of the Association gave nothing to each other and scored very high percentages. In the last minutes of the quarter, Nick Young (16 points, 4/7 threesomes) finally brought his colours to 1 point with two consecutive threesomes (92:91 Houston).

The very high quality and at the same time extremely exciting duel between the two best teams of the Western Conference was not to be decided until the final minutes. Harden – who had a 30-minute limit after his thigh injury but was still on the court in the decisive phase – drowned a stepback trio over Stephen Curry’s outstretched arms one minute before the end – 6 points for the rockets.

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That was too much for Golden State. On the other side, the bearded man proved his defensive skills with a block against Curry, and then Kevin Durant failed with an attempt by Downtown. The game was thus over after Chris Paul (33 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists) turned two free throws into the 116:108 final score.

Despite Durant’s 26 points (7 rebounds, 5 assists) the series of dubs ended with 14 consecutive away victories, while Golden State just barely missed a franchise record. Draymond Green defended himself with 21 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists against the imminent defeat, while Curry (19 points, 8 assists,, 6 turnovers, 6/20 FG) did not catch a cream day.

On the other side Harden had 22 points and 8 assists (also 6 ball losses) and was on the floor for 34 minutes. Clint Capela delivered important support with 18 points, Ryan Anderson raged successfully under the boards (5 points, 13 rebounds). Houston celebrated their fifth win in the last six games.

Rockets vs. Warriors: Click here for the BOXSCORE!

Chris Paul. The Warriors simply couldn’t find an answer to the strong point-guard. CP3 hit high percent of the field (10/20 FG) and was just as sure of downtown (6/11 threesomes). In the right moments, he also proved his strong eye for the other players.

Klay Thompson. The second part of the Splash Brother was not a factor that night. Thompson never really found his rhythm and therefore ended the match with a meager 8 points at 3 out of 11. Even with his otherwise so strong defense he could not set any accents against CP3 or Harden.

Against Houston’s dynamic backcourt duo consisting of Paul and Harden, the Warriors tried to counteract defensively with many switches. This was to prevent CP3 in particular from developing its strong fit. However, the concept only worked out to a limited extent, as Paul effectively exploited every mismatch and even the smallest space with his powerful shooting. That’s why Golden State switched to quite aggressive traps in the meantime, but Paul was able to free himself from these situations with good passes.