NBA: Dismantling! Rockets sweep Golden State out of the hall

The Golden State Warriors (12-4) catch a pitch-black evening and get a massive 107:86 (BOXSCORE) against the Houston Rockets (7-7). The Dubs don’t hit a barn goal, while the role-players in Houston turn on Isaiah Hartenstein, among others.

After it became known a few days ago that the Warriors would have to give up Stephen Curry for some time, head coach Steve Kerr surprised with Andre Iguodala in the Starting Five. The 34-year old – for the first time a starter in 2018/19 – should take over the supervision of Chris Paul. Draymond Green returned to the floor after his blockade against the Hawks.

It took a few minutes until the offenses of both teams got going. While the guests started extremely cold, especially from a distance, Houston only hit 2 of the first 11 field casting attempts. After all, the Rockets managed better afterwards, with a 17:4 run James Harden and Co. conquered a 25:19 lead until the end of the first quarter.

Houston also did better afterwards than the reigning champion. Led by Harden, who was always strong in isolation, and the good defense, the Rockets increased their lead up to 12 points. After all, Golden State came close to 41:47 until the half-time break.

However, the dubs could not initiate a turnaround even after the page change. Especially the starters were not very offensive and the rockets were able to extend their lead relatively fast. Towards the end of the third section, the landlords dropped to 17 points.

But that shouldn’t be it for a long time. In the fourth quarter, Houston retained complete control of the action, and a good eight and a half minutes from the end, none other than Isaiah Hartenstein made the preliminary decision.

After a steal from CP3 the German got the spalding in the transition in the left corner. Hartenstein pulled the trigger completely freely – and sunk his first threesome in the NBA! That was the climax of a 12-0 run, with which Houston set off to 88-65.

Afterwards Warriors coach Kerr took all his starters off the field, garbage time had begun. For Golden State this meant that, for the first time since March 2013, no starter could sink a single trio. Neither Klay Thompson (10 points, 0/5 three), nor Draymond Green (0 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 5 turnovers) or Kevin Durant (20, 6/15 FG) had anything to do with this evening.

The rockets, on the other hand, still didn’t have enough, the lead increased to 32 points in the last run. The Beard led his team with 27 points (8/23 FG, 4/14 three), but also Paul (10, 7 Assists, 3 Steals) or James Ennis (19) are symbolic for a strong team structure at the Rockets. Hartenstein also played a very good match. The German scored 6 points, 5 rebounds, an assistant and a plus/minus of +27 in 15 minutes.

Houston Rockets (7-7) – Golden State Warriors (12-4) 107:86 (BOXSCORE)

Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors): “We did not show our best game. But we’re still the best team in the league. We’re still gonna win the championship.”

The Rocket Role Players. Of course, Harden was once again the best scorer of his team, but he also had to struggle with his efficiency. But the role players showed a consistently excellent performance. Starting with James Ennis (19 points), Eric Gordon (17) and Gary Clark (9, meanwhile 3 three in a row) up to Hartenstein (6 and 5) Houston showed an impressive depth – this has rarely been the case in the previous season.

Klay Thompson. Only one of many total failures on the part of the Dubs. Over the whole game the absence of Steph Curry and his shooting made itself enormously noticeable, the second Splash Brother could not fill this gap. Green also had a pitch-black evening.

Already in the first quarter Steve Kerr denounced in a time-out the ponderous offense of the guests: too little movement, too little explosiveness. Despite the words of the warriors coach, this did not change much in the further course of the match. Due to the numerous switches of the Rockets-Defense, GSW was always carried away to isolations instead of letting the ball run. So the dubs came on just 18 assists – usually Golden State distributes 29.9 templates per game.