Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Monday turned all those Houston bricks into a road back to the NBA Finals.
Needing not only all their firepower, but also 27 straight misses by the Rockets during an epic cold streak from three-point range, the Warriors rallied to keep alive their hopes for a repeat.
Kevin Durant scored 34 points and Curry sparked another third-quarter turnaround as the Warriors earned a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals by beating the Rockets 101-92 in Game 7 of the NBA Western Conference Finals.
Photo: AP
The defending champions trailed by as many as 15 in the first half after falling behind 17 in Game 6.
“We know we can make an 11-point lead evaporate with two minutes of good basketball,” Klay Thompson said.
Curry, who finished with 27 points, scored 14 of Golden State’s 33 points in the third quarter as Houston’s shooting did not just go cold, it froze. The Rockets missed all 14 three-point attempts in that quarter as part of a one-for-21 second half from long range.
Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY
Curry said someone asked him after the victory if it is still special to get to the finals when it is the fourth time in a row.
“Yes, because it’s really hard,” he said.
The Warriors are to host LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 tomorrow night in the fourth straight matchup between the teams.
James Harden had 32 points as the top-seeded Rockets’ bid to return to the finals for the first time since 1995 fell short without Chris Paul, who was nursing a hamstring injury.
“We just didn’t have that extra juice that we needed,” Harden said.
The Rockets fell apart in the second half again after doing so in Game 6. The Warriors outscored Houston 122-63 in the second half of the final two games.
The Rockets finished seven of 44 on three-pointers, with Trevor Ariza missing all nine of his attempts, Eric Gordon going two for 12 and Harden making just two of 13.
Houston were behind by 13 after a three-pointer by Curry and had missed 27 straight three-pointers when P.J. Tucker hit one from the corner to cut the lead to 89-79 midway through the quarter. That was their first three-pointer since one by Gordon with about six-and-a-half minutes left in the second quarter that put the Rockets up 42-28 during a woeful Warriors start.
“We were lucky to escape out of here,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Tucker’s three-pointer was the first of seven straight points for Houston, who cut the lead to 89-83.
However, Durant scored six points in a 9-2 spurt after that, which left the Warriors 97-85 with about three minutes to go.
Houston finally found a little offense after that, using a 7-2 run to cut it to 99-92, but their rally came up short.
Thompson added 19 for Golden State after scoring 35 in the Game 6 win and the Warriors got a fourth straight start from Kevon Looney, with Andre Iguodala sitting out again with a bone bruise on his left leg.
After being down by 10 at halftime of Game 6, the Warriors trailed by 11 entering the third quarter on Monday night.
Golden State opened the third quarter with a 10-4 run to cut the lead to 58-53 after a three-pointer by Nick Young with about eight minutes left in the quarter.
Tucker made one of two free throws and the teams exchanged layups before Golden State scored nine straight points, with two three-pointers from Curry, to take a 64-61 lead.
Harden made two free throws before Curry scored eight points in a row, highlighted by a three-pointer that bounced high off the rim before falling back in, to make it 72-63 with just more than two minutes left in the quarter.
Golden State scored 33 points in the third quarter for the second straight game, while Houston managed just 15 points on Monday night after they scored 16 in the third in Game 6.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but