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Basketball » NBA (M), Semi-finals
OddsStats
24.05.2015. 03:00 Finished
Houston - Golden State (80:115)

To be or not to be for the Rockets

  • Published:

Texas boys are going through a deja vu of sorts. Like in the conference semi-finals they were two matches behind, but this time they're facing the best team of the league who won't give them as much chances as the Clippers

Fiba.com

Because of their unusual "shoot first, think later" gamestyle, no one took the Houston Rockets seriously but they, despite all of their problems and injuries, ended as the runner-up team in the super fierce competitions in regular season in the West. They've been doing really good in the playoffs too. After dropping down a single game in the first round against the Mavs, Kevin McHale's boys made up the 3-1 setback against the Clippers. Only nine teams managed to do that before them. They'll have to do something similar in the conference finals which they've opened up with two defeats, but they were far from being outplayed by the favored Golden State Warriors who had to make up for the 16 points in the first meeting. In the second one they feared for their status until the very end of the match.

- They probably think that they've lost two matches which they should have won, wile we think that we almost blew one match. There's still a long road ahead of us. We can do a lot of things better, but what's most important is the 2-0 lead - said Draymond Green who has 12.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists in the conference finals.

The flight towards Houston would surely have been more difficult for the Warriors if James Harden had scored the last shot on Thursday. Rockets' best player with a 99-98 score ten seconds before the end went for a shot, but remained a bit indecisive which cost his team the match.

Getty Images

- That hurts, but we can't do anything about it. They won two matches in front of their fans, and now we have to do the same. It's frustrating when a match slips out of your hands in this way. You'd always like to have such a chance. I have the necessary confidence in such situation, so it's even more frustrating when you know I didn't even try to shoot towards the hoop - said Harden. In the last five minutes of the match he threw in 12 out of his 38 points (13-for-21), and in total he had 10 rebounds and nine assists.

Unlike the first match, this time the Warriors drew the first punch. During the middle of the second quarter they had a +17 advantage (49-32) and just when it seemed there was no coming back for the Rockets, they replied with a 33-10 series, but unfortunately they didn't keep that lead for a long time. California boys entered the last three minutes with +8 (94-86), and then comes Harden who was great at both ends of the court, but he failed in the key moment. Harrison Barnes's miss enabled the Rockets to steal the match in case they realize a semi-counterattack which was pulled by Harden. He was stopped by Steph Curry and Klay Thompson to even try and shoot the ball toward the hoop.

- You know he probably won't pass. You only have to try and not allow him to shoot in order to become the hero - said Curry who was again brilliant.

He ended the meeting with 33 points (13-for-21; three-pointers 5-for-11), three rebounds and six assists which is almost a copy of the numbers he scored two days earlier: 34 points (13-for-22; three-pointers 6-for-11), six rebounds and five assists. After that match a lot was said about coach Kevin McHale who didn't want to use the last timeout with which he would calm the players down and come up with a better offense routine.

- I could have drawn up a lot of actions, but in neither of them would we have one man on the floor (Barnes) and one outside of the floor (Green), so I decided to let the guys use the number advantage. Our best player was on a semi-counterattack, and I think everyone knows how great he is in such situations We have a timeout. I could have called out one two, two and a half minutes before the end, but considering the number advantage, I didn't think it was worth it - commented coach McHale.

If anything, the Rockets can be pleased with what they got from Dwight Howard who was very questionable after being kicked in the knee in the first match. For someone who didn't know if he'd play or not 30 minutes before the start of the match, Howard did more than a good job. He spent 40 minutes in game during which he scored 19 points (8-for-11) and 17 rebounds, and thanks to his good game in the defense the Rockets had a chance to steal one match in the Oracle Arena.

- I gave my team all that I had. I tried as much as I could and I didn't even think about my knee. I won't allow anything to get in my way. Neither the injuries nor the defeats will break my spirit. I want the whole team to earn their way through this. There's no other way. We'll get our chances for success only that way. This was a tough defeat, but we don't need to take moments like these for granted. They don't come often. We're looking forward to our return home. We have a lot to offer - the Rockets' center pointed out. This season they've lost all six head-to-heads against the Oakland boys.

No matter how sad they are because of both defeats, the Rockets can now realize that the Warriors aren't invincible. They had them in both matches, and with a somewhat better reaction from the bench, they have solid chances to completely come back into the series Of course, Harden and Howard will have to keep their high game level, and Rockets can't allow Klay Thompson to wake up: in the first two matches they limited him on the acceptable 28 points with 12-for-33 shots from the floor (three pointers 2-for-14).

The history is not on the Rockets' side. They will try to become the fifth team who managed to earn the Big finale after being in a 2-0 setback as a team with the bad ranking.

- This is a match we simply have to win. We don't have a lot of room for errors. This is the conference finals. It doesn't get any better than this. We're playing in front of our audience who will feed us with energy the entire time. We're not going anywhere. We'll come out and give it our best shot - said McHale whose team shoot 27.6 three-pointers (score 9.6), and Warriros a total of 29.3 (11.1).

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Houston Golden State
Absent players

  • Patrick Beverley, Donatas Motiejunas, K.J. McDaniels

  • Marreese Speights

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