NBA: Rockets win Game 4 at the Warriors: We have a series!

The Houston Rockets won with a strong defense in the fourth quarter of game 4 and thus balanced the series. The pressure is now on for the Golden State Warriors, the home advantage is history.

The Warriors scored 12 points in the first five minutes of the game, but the Rockets scored none. Perhaps the most important game of the season for the Texans, everything seemed to go wrong at the beginning. This game had to be won, a 1-3 could not have caught up with Mike D’Antoni’s men.

The last team to do so was the Cavs in the 2016 finals when LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Co. won Game 7 with 93:89 in the Oracle Arena – Golden State’s last home defeat to date. Since then, the Dubs have claimed 16 home victories in a row. In the fourth quarter they only scored 13 points and this game against Houston had many parallels.

Like the Cavs, the Rockets played defense at the highest level in the last twelve minutes. Instead of ball movement and a lot of movement, the Warriors isolated a lot and hardly generated any good throws, which also pissed off coach Steve Kerr. “We played too much isolation at the pear and didn’t force the opponent to make defensive decisions.”

12 meager points jumped out, as many as in the first five minutes, but this time distributed over a whole quarter. Only three of 18 litters went through the cage, not one from a distance. Golden State played just one assist and not one in the last 10’45” of the game.

The last quarter was contrary to everything you are used to from the Warriors this season and beyond. The champion previously played 29 direct submissions on average, this time more turnovers than assists (16:14). Houston had managed to break the rhythm of the Warriors and impose their iso-heavy playing on them.

“We just didn’t get any more good litters, we were tired,” confessed Kerr. “In the end it was just a fight and a lot of isolation. This must be the modern NBA right now.”

The tiredness mentioned can’t be used as an excuse, of course, but the injury to Andre Iguodala made the already short Warriors Bank even shorter than before. Especially suitable wing players were lacking without Iggy. Kevin Durant and Draymond Green played a full 43 and 45 minutes respectively and had little influence late in the game.

KD, a sensational closeer in the playoffs so far, scored only one roll in five attempts and scored only 6 of his 27 points in this section. Green, who was defensively challenged, failed in a dunk test on the ring, his legs just didn’t take part anymore.

Bankers like Shaun Livingston (-15) or Nick Young (-14) did not bring any relief and so the Warriors played with the starters plus rookie Jordan Bell, who did a good job defensively but did not get the confidence at the end of the game. Perhaps it will take revenge after all that Golden State dismissed Omri Casspi, a skilled wingman for Quinn Cook’s services, and now has four centers, all of which won a DNP.

On the other hand, Houston also only had seven players, all starters except Clint Capela cracked the 40 minutes, but the Rockets seemed hungrier, as coach Mike D’Antoni proudly said after he had called his team soft after game 3. “They were tired, we were tired. But we have shown the will. It’s not always nice, but in the end it’s an important victory.”

Indeed, the will of these Rockets was impressive. Neither the terrible start nor the curry explosion with 17 points in the third quarter took the team with the best balance of the Regular Season the courage – and the two stars James Harden and Chris Paul were real role models.

Harden played probably the best two-way half time of his career, after he still seemed insecure at the beginning and even refused a completely free transition threesome. Fearlessly, he kept moving into the heart of the Warriors Defense and found a good mix of closure and storage for the other players.

But much more impressive was his work at the back end of the field with 3 steals and 2 blocks. Among other things, he stole Durant twice in a row and gave the Rockets important, easy points. Even isolated from curry, the bearded man did not give in, as he has done so many times before.

“We’ve been doing this all year,” Harden was proud after the game. “They had their runs, but we fought back again and again. Game three was just a game, we acted today with the mentality that we will win the game, and we did.”

This was also agreed by his congenial partner, CP3. “We just kept going,” Paul said. “We knew their push would come in the third quarter. They have that in their quiver – but so do we.”

As Paul said, the Texans always had an answer – and most of it came from the Point God himself. The best minutes Houston played when Durant or Curry were sitting on the bench and CP3 was running the store, ergo the Rockets-Offense.

In the end there were only 4 assists, but the 2 in the fourth quarter paved the way for the Rockets to win. As he served Trevor Ariza from corner to corner in bowling style, fully delivered, was the huge school of playmaking. Paul also assisted Eric Gordon’s decisive trio 2:27 minutes before the end of the match at 94:89.

Previously, CP3 had kept their colours in play when Harden took down after a terrific first half and only marked 6 points after the change. Paul, on the other hand, scored 25 points in the last 28 minutes with the most difficult pull-ups (8/13 FG for jumpers during this period).

“He’s been doing this for so long,” Harden raved about his backcourt partner. “Now he has the opportunity to show it on this stage. Everybody knows how good he is. His passports, his ability to hit heavy throws and his defense. He was so important to us today.”

And Paul could have become a tragic hero. After Klay Thompson’s jumper was too short, the game seemed to be over and Houston left with a sense of victory in the catacombs of the time-honored Oracle Arena.

After a review, the referees put another 0.5 seconds on the clock and CP3 had to hit the free-throw line at 94:92. After he missed the first attempt, he sank the second. With one Miss the clock would probably have run down, but so the Dubs took another time-out and got a high-percentage chance to win with a completely open threesome.

Curry missed and the Rockets got away with the horror. It shows how minimal the margin for errors is. So instead of 1-3 it’s 2-2, the Rockets have regained their home advantage and could ideally close the series at the same place in game 6, after Houston has already been written off by many after game 3.

Not very understandable for Curry, which he emphasized again at the PK. “They won 65 games, they’re a good team, but so are we,” warned the two-time MVP. “It’s a fine line between winning and losing, narrower than he was last year.”

That’s exactly what the fans expected from this series. If anyone can tickle the Warriors, then please the Rockets so highly praised in the Regular Season. For the first time the Dubs have to play a game 6 in the playoffs with Durant in the roster, without any home advantage.

The Rockets have actually managed what caused the Spurs (2x), the Blazers, the Pelicans, the Jazz and the Cavaliers to fail: Ladies and gentlemen – we have a series!