The last time the Warriors and Rockets faced each other at Toyota Center was game seven of the Western Conference Finals in May 2018.
It was a game that didn’t feature Houston point guard Chris Paul and Golden State forward Andre Iguodala — both were out with injuries.
So, the Rockets had to go into game seven of the Western Conference Finals without one of their floor generals against the defending champions.
Reigning MVP, James Harden led his troops into battle and had a solid game with 32 points, six rebounds and six assists. Clint Capela and Eric Gordon helped carry the scoring load on offense with a combined 43 points. However, the Rockets who live and die behind the arc, weren’t able to hit a three down the stretch as they missed 27 straight. The Rockets would go on and lose game seven 101-92 to the eventual NBA Champions.
The Warriors and Rockets are locked in another playoff battle for the right to move to the next round. This time it won’t be the NBA Finals, but the Western Conference Finals. The Warriors were able to win the first two games of the series at home averaging 109.5 points compared to the Rockets 104.5.
This morning after shootaround Warriors head coach Steve Kerr per ClutchPoints scribe, Shane Young was asked about Houston missing 26 straight threes the last time they played a playoff game at the Toyota Center, and Kerr corrected the reporter.
“It was 27, but who’s counting?”
The reporter also asked Kerr if he thought about the Rockets going 0-27 and how close the Warriors were to the edge last year in the Conference Finals.
Kerr replied: “Yeah, of course, it was game seven on the road. I think we were down 15 in the second quarter. So, it was a great series and it went down to the wire.“
The Rockets are looking to bounce back after losing the first two games on the road with a victory tonight against the Warriors and avoid going down 0-3 in this best of seven series and the Warriors are looking to take a commanding lead heading into Game 4 on Monday.
