Fred Vanvleet offers a huge performance to help the Rockets eliminate elimination and return the series to Houston for a match 7.
Young team, on the road, facing elimination, going against an opponent with a lot of experience in the first season … What could be wrong?
Well, not much, in fact, for Houston’s Rockets.
They were the most stable, smarter, harder and simply the best team. It was especially – and shocking – true in the section 6 at Chase Center. It was almost as if they had changed their character with the veteran warriors, who went quietly and quickly in the night.
It was therefore Rockets 115, Warriors 107, and now more important, a match 7 Sunday (8:30 he, TNT) between these teams in this series suddenly first round.
The Warriors were ready to close the series, but the seeds of seeds n ° 2 had different ideas. Fred Vanvleet showed the way for three quarters, then the Rockets spread and let the Warriors fight with a fourth anemic quarter.
This raises all kinds of possibilities on Sunday at the Toyota Center in Houston. The rockets will be at home and swollen with confidence after having lagged 3-1 and fought twice on elimination. The Warriors have Stephen Curry and Draymond Green and the playoffs Jimmy Butler. But they looked old and must now travel two time zones to play in 48 hours.
Who brings the advantage on Sunday?
Who will play golf next week?
Here are five dishes to remember while the best series for the best of the seven years returns to Houston with a berth in the western semi-finals on the line:
1. Fred is flourishing
During the last three games, two of which have won the Rockets, player No. 1 on the ground is the one who has not been drafted. It would be Fred Vanvleet, who has just struck another 3 points while you are starting to read this story.
During the last three games, he scored 24, 25 and 29 points and broke his 3 constantly opened – 18 for 27 deeply on this section. It seems … familiar?
Well, he brings Steph out. And it happens at the right time here in the playoffs. This is why the Rockets have emptied the Vanvleet portfolio a few summers in free agency. They wanted his veteran presence, his championship pedigree and his imperturbable approach to tense moments. And they get everything.
The warriors were helpless against him, and although Vanvleet can sometimes be striated, he is locked in a groove at the moment. He made his way against Curry during the 2019 NBA finals and now starts again. Golden State has to snuggle up and develop a plan against him.
2. Warriors have the Game 7 sauce
In these Win-Or-Else situations, a team has the top. Or we have to say, two players in particular: Curry and Butler.
Here are the data of the five curry appearances of this type: 32.6 points, seven assists and 6.5 rebounds. Oh, and his last match 7? These were blisters – he dropped a dramatic 50 pieces on the kings of Sacramento a few years ago (and this city has been haunted since).
During the four Butler appearances: 22 points and four rebounds on average. But, like Curry, it does not start to say the impact of its last two. Butler terrorized the Celtics twice, with an average of 31 points and eight rebounds and almost sent the Celtics to the house twice, missing a rider in the last seconds of a match.
Basically, although the Warriors showed a 3-1 lead in the 2016 NBA final, they have a pair of players who managed the ruthless urgency and nature of these games. This does not mean that experience in playoffs will certainly win – it is not Friday – but it gives Rockets a reason to worry.
3. Will we see the game Jalen Green (again)?
The top scorer of the rockets was a ghost largely of this series, and was again Friday after delivering 12 points moaning in 32 minutes. Green, who collected 38 points in match 2, otherwise scored 47 points in the other five games (including three in one figure).
His body language sags with his confidence. There are times when he postpones, a sure sign of someone who prefers to transmit blows to miss them. It is a dangerous mentality for a marker, but perhaps an understandable for someone like Green, who is 23 years old and does not have a rich history in playoffs.
But everything you need is a massive game to erase everything. He is lucky Sunday. He will be at home within more friendly limits. And the chances suggest that this collapse will not last forever. Everything is in his favor. The first quarter will be revealing and important. If it becomes hot and the crowd behind him will help. If he throws bricks and his shoulders collapse, it will hurt.
4. The warriors collapsed in the fourth
Houston only finished two points when the fourth quarter started. Then amazing with a little less than five minutes, the head was 17.
The expanded deficit was mainly self-inflicted by the Warriors. They stopped bouncing, hitting open shots, protecting the edge or covering the rockets on the perimeter. It was a collective collapse, all things considered, and with the remaining minutes, the result was no longer in doubt.
How bad was it? The Warriors missed 11 out of 12 from Deep. They missed 13 consecutive shots at one point, some of them are clean. Curry had three points.
Again, the amazing part is that it was the most experienced team. This does not occur normally in such situations, against much younger teams. But that did it, and it blessed the warriors.
He also fed the idea that, perhaps just, fatigue settles down. Golden State had to fight throughout the game tournament. It seemed to be the case with a younger team using their athletics, its speed and – hunger? – to their advantage.
Speaking of procresses advantages …
The Rockets are launching an evolving series of glances on the Warriors, winning 3 of the 4 quarters and forcing a match 7 in Houston.
5. Center with two heads is a monster for Houston
Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams overwhelmed the warriors. With Vanvleet, it was the decisive factor on Friday that pushed this series in a match 7. And there was nothing that the Warriors could do to prevent it.
Sengun did not always go against Draymond, who won the head-to-head battle a few nights in the last seconds. But the young Rockets center continues to continue. He brings delicate movements in the post and guard Draymond, one of the best defenders of this generation, on his guard. Sengun in match 6: 21 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, three interceptions.
Adams is not a guy from Stat, but has delivered throughout his 31 minutes of season to the bench. His presence in painting, the role of secondary defender, soothing leadership and the surprising ability to draw mistakes were important. In this series, Rockets are a more-53 when it is on the ground.
Adams in the match 6: 17 points, five rebounds, three blocks.
This poses a problem for the Warriors. Draymond cannot manage so much. Quinten post, which lacks experience, and Kevon Looney, who does not play much, will both have to increase another level against the duo of the Rockets.
Or it is an envelope for the Warriors.
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Shaun Powell covered the NBA for over 25 years. You can send him an email Here, find his archives here and follow it X.
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