Photo Credit: Getty Images
The Houston Rockets thrashed the Golden State Warriors 131-116 to fend off elimination in the NBA playoffs on Wednesday, narrowing the gap in their Western Conference series to 3-2. Fred VanVleet scored 26 points, Amen Thompson added 25 and Dillon Brooks chipped in 24 for the Rockets, who led by as many as 31 points and were up by 29 when Warriors coach Steve Kerr waved the white flag, pulling Stephen Curry and the rest of his starters with 5:50 left in the third quarter.
With their season on the line after an agonising loss in a game-four thriller, the Rockets blasted out of the gate. They connected on 64.7 per cent of their shots in the first quarter on the way to a 40-24 lead. VanVleet drilled three of Houston's six first-quarter three-pointers, and the Rockets made all 13 of their free throws in their opening period blitz.
The Warriors looked helpless to respond. Curry and Jimmy Butler failed to score in the opening frame, Curry missing two attempts from the field and Butler three. The Warriors didn't get to the free-throw line and turned the ball over five times in the first period. Curry drained a three-pointer for his first basket of the game midway through the second quarter. He connected on three from beyond the arc in the period, but the Warriors could make few inroads in the face of Houston's suffocating defence, and the Rockets led 76-49 at halftime.
Kerr said he had no qualms about pulling his starters in a potential clinching game, a decision that gave some rest to 37-year-old Curry, playing through a thumb injury, Draymond Green and Butler, who missed game three with a pelvic injury. They can still close out the series when they host game five on Friday. "We can't come out with that lack of defensive focus and energy and expect to beat a great team on their home floor," Kerr said. "They took it to us - they were awesome tonight."
Curry finished with 13 points and Butler scored eight for the Warriors. Moses Moody scored 25 points and led the Warriors' reserves in a late comeback bid that saw them pull within 13 points with five minutes left. Then things got chippy again, with Warriors reserve Pat Spencer ejected for head-butting Houston center Alperen Sengun - and the Rockets pulled away. The winner of the series will play the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round after they ended the Los Angeles Lakers' season later on Wednesday with a 103-96 win to seal their series 4-1.
