The Golden State Warriors didn’t make it easy on themselves, but they are officially moving on to the next round.
The Warriors, after huge halves from both Buddy Hield and Stephen Curry, put the Houston Rockets away on Sunday night to officially close out their opening round playoff series. The Warriors held on to grab a 103-89 win over the Rockets in Game 7 at the Toyota Center, which gave them the 4-3 series win and sent them into the Western Conference semifinals for a third time in the past four seasons.
The win also allowed the Warriors to avoid becoming the 14th team in NBA history to blow a 3-1 series lead, something they famously did in the 2016 NBA Finals.
After a tight first quarter, and a poor first half offensively from Curry, the Warriors jumped ahead to a 12-point lead as they entered the locker room. That was all thanks to Hield, who was just about unstoppable.
Hield put up 22 points in the first two quarters while shooting 6-of-7 from behind the arc. All but one of those made 3-pointers came in the second quarter, too, and he hit his series high in points before halftime. Hield helped the Warriors mount a 16-2 run in the second quarter. Curry didn’t hit his first bucket until the final minute when he finally got a deep 3-pointer to fall.
But, as Hield’s hot streak came to an end in the third quarter, so did the Warriors’ offense. The Rockets mounted a quick 14-4 run early after halftime to cut the game back to single digits, and then they made it a one-possession game after Jabari Smith Jr. drained a huge 3-pointer late in the period.
That, however, was as close as the Rockets came to completing their comeback. The Warriors ended the third quarter on a 7-2 burst and didn’t give up a field goal the rest of the way to push their lead back to eight. Hield didn’t score at all in the third quarter, and he attempted just a single shot.
Curry, after his slow first half, finally came alive. He opened the fourth quarter on a solo 5-0 run, which included a step-back 3-pointer, in the first 71 seconds of the period to suddenly put the Warriors up by 13 points again and force a quick Rockets timeout.
Finally, Hield hit again in the second half with a 3-pointer midway through the fourth — which both pushed the Warriors back to a double-digit lead after a little Rockets push and set a new playoff career high for him.
The Warriors used one last push, this time in the form of a 12-0 burst capped by another Hield 3-pointer, in less than 90 seconds, to suddenly push the lead to 20 points. That sealed the deal and allowed Golden State to cruse to the 14-point win. The Warriors have now won 20 of their last 25 games against the Rockets, too.
Amen Thompson led the Rockets with 24 points and nine rebounds in the loss. Alperen Şengün added 21 points and 14 rebounds, and Fred Van Vleet added 17 points. They were the only three Rockets players to hit double figures, and the team went just 6-of-18 from behind the arc.
Hield finished with 33 points on nine 3-pointers in the win for Golden State. That matched an NBA record in a Game 7 for most made 3-pointers in a single game. He shot 12-of-15 from the field, too. Curry added 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and Butler finished with 20 points and eight rebounds. The Warriors out-scored Houston by 36 points from behind the arc. All but three of their total points came from their starters in the win, too. Kevon Looney was the only bench player to score.
The Warriors will now take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in the next round starting on Tuesday night. The Timberwolves rolled over LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to grab a 4-1 series win to reach the semifinals.
Read the full article here
