Game 5 WCF: Houston Rockets (3-2) 98 - 94 Golden State Warriors (2-3)

First published May 25th 2018

TL;DR: Amazing Houston defense, and role players have been the key. KD hero ball is awful and turnovers sure don't help. Well deserved lead by the Rockets in the series.

Not having Iguodala is such a hinder to our rotations and with our shallow bench there's no one with any defensive skills to make up for his loss. I really think his impact has to be stated. His absence changed everything about this series, though i refuse to use it as an excuse.

Frenetic start from the Warriors. The first 3 possessions must have taken less than 5 seconds to end in a shot or a turnover. Before our first made bucket (transition dunk from Durant) we had 2 bad shots, 3 turnovers and one open three attempt from Green. This is a victory for Houston, period. And it clearly set what would be the standard the whole way through. All credit to the Rockets for during that same period showing incredible discipline on their offense. Attack Looney, get Capela involved and wait to see what you can get.

Also, and sorry to continue to harp on this but what were the passes per possession of the warriors? I give all credit to Houston's defense there. They're fine with KD trying to attack Gordon on the post, they're fine with any Green post-up and switching everything is baiting the warriors into those ISO-heavy possessions, the exact opposite style that they need to get players like Steph and Klay going. They're just doing cuts off ball that lead to nowhere but a better spot to watch someone force their way to the basket. The first real blown assignment on defense by Houston was 7 minutes into the game, by Harden. That's a pretty great mark. It should have been a 1st quarter blowout but early cold shooting masked the difference in execution.

Then, Kerr decides to go all with Cook and West coming in to close the quarter in a shocking move. Ball movement (and consequently shooting) did slightly improve. And then the Warriors came in from halftime with the clear focus on getting the ball moving more. And just as the Warriors had to be happy with leaving the first quarter losing by single digits, the Rockets must've been confident with leaving the third with an almost tied game.

However, all freaking game, the amount of hero ball when Durant was out there was unbearable. Our shooters only got good looks and shots in the flow of the offense in possessions where KD had no touches, and those were also the possessions that brought it back to a close game. Even if Houston switching has taken out PnR's, that's not an efficient way to use a MVP. I lost count of the times he drove to the middle of two or three guys in black jerseys. I mean... what the hell was this? Contested KD shots are something i live with because they give us an exit valve when everything else fails, but it serves little purpose if you do it with 20 seconds in the shot when a team has been unable to establish rhythm. Usually it results in a loss with a 35 point game by Durant.

Kerr kinda split the minutes between Looney and Bell. I think this was one of the more quiet Looney games defensively and Bell wasn't giving you anything better when taking on a CP ISO. However i like his energy in transition and attacking movement. Our rookie has already shown to have a place in this series, even with an healthy Iguodala.

I expected Harden to attack West to force him out of the court during his minutes. For the first half, even thought he got the matchup, he never attacked the basket and went for the stepback. It's these type of small decisions that can help a team to swing a result. And honestly, since the 3's were not going in but he was being so effective with his drives, this should have applied to any defender. This would change though. Paul had no trouble doing it at the beginning of the forth quarter to devastating results so that Kerr had no choice but to throw Looney back in there. In fact, CP had a great second half, making hard bucket after hard bucket. In particular, one beating the shot clock after Curry did a wonderful job to stay on him and get in his space.

The whole final quarter was about everyone on Houston attacking on the drive. Harden's found aggression got him a ton of points at the line. PJ Tucker on the offensive boards and help defense was also an unmeasurable contribution. Meanwhile, on the other side... Exhibits A and B ; Exhibit C. But i give a ton of credit to Houston's defense.

I appreciate the risk of going with Cook in that final minute. He had an open three and he missed it (In fact, he missed all his three open shots). But he stayed with CP well on defense (the play where CP got hurt) and got the open shot. That was the strategy, to expect them to be busy with the three bigger threats and have another shooter ready, and it was well executed. Sometimes it's all about if you make the shot or not.

Green letting that pass slip brought me PTSD flashbacks of Curry's 16' behind-the-back out-of-bounds pass against the Cavs.

Well earned 3-2 advantage. The defense was stellar and Houston won this on that side of the court. Gordon, Tucker and Ariza have showed up and carried everything before the big two came to take it home in the forth. That's all you can ask of them. I felt beyond pissed at the end of game 4 because of how awful the warriors were, how the game was lost by themselves. That is not the case tonight. I saw a great team being better on the court and getting the win. I look forward to the response on game 6 and hopefully (from my position of course) one hell of a game 7.

(Reddit)