Rockets lose Game 7 to Warriors

Posted: May 28, 2018 -- 11:59 pm CDT.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets battled and excelled for 24 minutes Monday night; however, a collective out-of-body experience that resulted in an NBA playoff-record 27 consecutive missed three-point shots hurt the Rockets in a 101-92 Game 7 loss to the Golden State Warriors.

Houston scored 92 points tonight, marking its fifth straight game scoring below 100.

During the 27 consecutive misses, Houston went from leading 42-30 with 6:13 left in the second quarter to trailing 89-76 with 7:02 left in the fourth quarter.

The Rockets shot 7 for 44 from 3-point range in the game, ending their NBA playoff record streak of 22 consecutive games with 10 or more.  The previous longest streak was 13 games by the Warriors.  Prior to tonight, no team had fewer than 9 3-point field goals made in a playoff game with 40 or more attempts.

"Yeah, we had good looks, not everyone was good, but neither was theirs," Rockets Head Coach Mike D'Antoni said. "They just made a high percentage. We did a pretty good job with the turnovers (12 turnovers, 17 for Golden State). We did everything well, except they outshot us. They were 16-of-39, and we were 7-of-44. That's kind of the tale of it. When they make their little runs, we have to be able to hit threes to keep them at bay; and, we just couldn't do it or didn't do it."

"We just missed shots; and, that’s all it is to it," Trevor Ariza said after the game. "Defensively, I thought we played well, we just didn’t make shots."

Chris Paul did not play in Game 7 due to his strained right hamstring. Surely, a healthy Chris Paul would have helped the Rockets' chances; however, Paul is not healthy. PJ did not want to use Paul's injury as an excuse nor reason for the Rockets' loss.

"I won’t even get into that one. It’s a grown man’s league," Tucker said. "It doesn’t matter; next man up. You’ve got to play, you’ve got to win. It doesn't matter who plays; step up."

The Rockets led the Warriors 54-43 at halftime thanks to grit and hustle.

Houston beat Golden State to every loose ball in the first half.

The Rockets outrebounded the Warriors 26-17 in the first half including 11-5 on the offensive boards. The 11-5 stat is more telling when you realize the Rockets' starters outrebounded the Warriors' starters 10-1 on the o-boards in the opening half.

The Rockets made 6 of their first 14 three-point attempts; however, they missed their last 9 three-point attempts in the first half. (Houston would miss 18 more threes in a row in the second half.)

In the first half, James Harden led the Rockets with 16 points on 5 for 15 field goal shooting. Eric Gordon scored 14 points on 5 for 12 shooting while Clint Capela added 14 points (7 for 8 shooting) and 6 rebounds. Gordon and Harden combined to shoot 4 for 15 from three in the first half.

The Warriors, as they've done throughout the regular season and the playoffs, heated up in the third quarter and outscored the Rockets 33-15 in the third period.

The Warriors shot 54.5% (12 for 22) in the third quarter including 7 for 12 three-point shots. However, the Rockets shots 24.0% (6 for 25) in the third stanza including a frigid 0 for 14 three-point shots.

Zero for fourteen three-point shooting.

"We're just going to keep shooting them," James Harden said "We've done it all year long. The first half, just our energy defensively was different. That created more opportunities for the three and they went in.

"As a result of that, we got a double digit lead going into halftime. Those same opportunities were there in the second half, we just didn't make them. They made tough shots. That's it pretty much."

The Rockets trailed the Warriors 76-69 after three quarters. Golden State increased the lead to 89-76 with 7:13 remaining in the fourth quarter; but, Houston went on a 7-0 spurt to pull within six points with 5:07 on the clock. During the spurt, P.J. Tucker sank a corner three-point shot which ended the Rockets three-point shot drought at 27 consecutive misses. Eric Gordon scored the other four points on drives into the paint. Gordon scored a floater and a driving layup.

After Houston pulled withing 89-83, Golden State's Kevin Durant knocked down a 17-foot jumper shot. Next, after James Harden threw a bad pass stolen by Draymond Green, Klay Thompson nailed a 21-foot jump shot to boost the lead back to 10 points (93-83) with 4:16 left in the ball game.

The Warriors intentionally fouled Clint Capela on the Rockets' next two offensive possessions. Capela split the four foul shots. While Capela went 2 for 4 at the foul line, Durant sank a 20-foot jump shot and scored a layup for a 97-85 Warriors' lead.

Houston made one final push and clawed within 7 points (99-92) with 71 seconds remaining; however, two more missed three-point shots (Ariza and Harden) wrapped up the Rockets' second half shooting as well as the season.

Ariza finished the game 0 for 12 from the floor including 0 for 9 from three-point range.

Harden scored 32 points on 12 for 29 shooting (2 for 13 threes). Gordon scored 23 on 9 for 22 shooting (2 for 12 threes). Capela scored 20 points on 9 for 10 shooting. PJ Tucker scored 14 points on 5 for 9 shooting and pulled down 12 rebounds. Gerald Green shot 1 for 7 from the floor.

The Rockets doubled-up the Warriors in the paint 56-28 and outscored the Warriors 14-8 in second chance points. The Warriors outscored the Rockets 23-8 in fast break points.

Golden State hit 16 3-pointers on 41.0% shooting tonight.  The Rockets finished the postseason 10-0 when hitting more 3-pointers than their opponent and 1-6 when failing to do so.  Houston was 0-4 when allowing 15 or more 3-point field goals made this postseason (7-4 in regular season) and 1-5 when opponents shot 40.0% or better from behind-the-arc (16-11 in regular season).

"Man, (it) hurts bad. We played hard though; we fought hard," Trevor Ariza said. "I’m just hurt right now. We saw some good things this year. We saw a helluva season from James (Harden), unbelievable growth from Clint (Capela), CP (Chris Paul). We got a dude that was at home on the couch in Gerald Green, he came in played huge for us. You know (P.J.) Tucker has been huge for us all year, I just thank those dudes for coming out here this season, and just battling the way we did."

"One half of basketball. Two games, Games 6 and 7. One half of basketball," James Harden lamented. "We just didn't have the same energy that we had in that first half or the pace. So, it's extremely frustrating."

The Rockets finished the regular season with a franchise record 65 wins and advanced to the Conference Finals for the second time over the past four seasons.

The Rockets fall to 6-5 in Game 7’s, including 4-2 at home.

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