It was the tale of two halves for the Golden State Warriors in game five against the Houston Rockets.
Golden State started strong and the key moving without the basketball. Kevon Looney also provided a spark off the bench with three offensive rebounds, Draymond Green facilitated the offense and Klay Thompson started out strong as well after sub par game four. The only issue Stephen Curry started slowly and managed to score only five points.
Even though the Warriors held a 14 point halftime lead there were several missed opportunities to extend that lead.
The third became a different story for Golden State. Houston’s offense got rolling and it started with Eric Gordon making his first three of the game, P.J. Tucker scored in a variety of ways and a three by Iman Shumpert got the Rockets within one with a little over two and a half minutes remaining in the third.
Kevin Durant responded with a fadeaway jumper. Yet, left with an injury after landing. It appeared possibly an Achilles injury, yet reported later a right calf strain and out for the remainder of the game. Houston did take a one point lead for a moment and by the end of the third the game was all tied up.
With Durant out, Curry then took over the reigns on offense. He got himself to the free throw line, made a three, a fadeaway, got fouled on a shot after grabbing an offensive rebound, and found a cutting Green for a layup.
Still what will not get lost was Kevon Looney coming up with big plays down the stretch. He forced a jump ball with Clint Capela on what seemed like an easy opportunity for the Rockets to score, made two free throws, came up with an offensive rebound leading to a Thompson three, came up with a huge block on Chris Paul driving to the basket and assisted on the game sealing layup.
Leading the way for Rockets, James Harden with 31 points and eight assists, Gordon added 19 points and Tucker went for 13 points and 10 rebounds. For the Warriors, Thompson led the way with 27 points, Curry added 25 points, six rebounds and five assists and Durant scored 22 while grabbing five rebounds.