OAKLAND, Calif. _ In times of trouble, the Warriors have relied on a trusted formula: A third-quarter surge.
After relying on it to cover first-half sluggishness throughout the regular season, the Warriors used it again Saturday night to salvage their championship aspirations.
Down 10 at halftime, and by as many as 17, the Warriors rode a third-quarter rush to the lead and didn't stop till they had annihilated the Houston Rockets, 115-86, in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. Game 7 is Monday in Houston.
The Warriors outscored the Rockets, 33-16 in the third quarter and dominated in nearly every other facet. They outshot the Rockets from the arc (67 percent to 33 percent), outrebounded them (47 to 38) and outdid them in every way en route to a 46-point turnaround.
Klay Thompson, calling up his Game 6 from the 2015 Western Conference finals in Oklahoma City, scored 35 points. Twelve of them came in the third quarter on 4-for-5 shooting from 3-point range. His Splash Brother, Stephen Curry, posted nine of his 29 points in the third quarter, draining 3 of 4 from 3-point range.
The Warriors opened the second half with eight unanswered points in 95 seconds, including two Thompson 3-pointers and a Kevin Durant dunk.
As good as they were, they were every bit as bad in the first half.
Instead of playing with the kind of desperation and hustle needed to avoid elimination, the Warriors played with regular-season sluggishness. And this happened against a Rockets team without star guard Chris Paul, who suffered a strained right hamstring in the final minute of Game 5.
The Warriors had trailed, 39-22, after the first quarter. The Rockets went 8 of 12 from 3-point range, while the Warriors went 1 of 7.
Durant finished with 23 points, while Draymond Green added four points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Warriors.
The Rockets were led by James Harden, who scored 32 points to go along with nine assists and seven rebounds.
