SA LIKOD ng isa pang pambihirang third quarter mula kay Stephen Curry, binura ng Golden State Warriors ang 15-point deficit at inangkin ang Game 7 ng Western Conference finals sa pamamagitan ng 101-92 panalo laban sa Houston Rockets kahapon sa Toyota Center sa Houston.
Naitala ni Curry ang 14 sa kanyang 27 points sa third period at kinuha ng Warriors ang kanilang ikaapat na sunod na NBA Finals berth.
“This is a situation we’ve never been in before … to win a Game 7 on the road, keep our composure for the whole series,” pahayag ni Curry.
“All those hurdles and obstacles, we got over them, so it’s an unbelievable feeling, man. Winning a championship is hard, so this is a testament to that.”
Magsisimula ang championship series sa Huwebes sa Oakland, Calif., kung saan kakatawanin ng Cleveland Cavaliers ang Eastern Conference. Ang dalawang koponan ay nagharap sa naunang tatlong Finals, kung saan nagwagi ang Golden State noong 2015 at 2017 at ang Cleveland ang naging kampeon noong 2016.
Na-outscore ng Golden State, makaraang maghabol ng 11 points sa intermission, ang Rockets, 33-15, sa third period. Naitala ng Warriors ang plus-68 scoring margin sa third quarters para sa series.
“The second half was unbelievable,” ani Curry. “This atmosphere is crazy.”
Lamang ang Rockets sa halftime subalit kumulapso ang kanilang opensa sa third quarter.
Bumuslo ang Houston ng 24 percent (6 of 25) sa third at nagmintis sa lahat ng kanilang 14 na 3-point attempts.
“I’m proud of our guys for the way they held together after almost coming completely unglued in the first half. But that second half was something, a lot of amazing shot-making from some talented players. And I don’t know what the hell else was going on out there, but we did fight and we got it going in the second half,” wika ni Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
Tumipa si Kevin Durant ng 34 points, 5 rebounds at 5 assists para sa Warriors, at nag-ambag si Klay Thompson ng 19 points sa kabila na maagang nalagay sa trouble. Nagtala rin si Curry ng 9 boards, 10 assists at 4 steals.
Kumabig si James Harden ng 32 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists at 4 steals para sa Rockets, na muling naglaro na wala si guard Chris Paul (right hamstring strain).
Ininda ni Rockets guard Eric Gordon, umsikor ng 23 points, ang pagkawala ni Paul.
“It sucks because you know you could win this series if we just had one more playmaker. If we had Chris, if he was out there, we’d have been playing on Thursday. It’s just tough,” aniya.
Iba naman ang pananaw ni Harden.
“We don’t even think about that,” wika ni Harden patungkol sa paglalaro na wala si Paul. “We had an opportunity tonight and last game without Chris. Obviously, he’s a big part of why we’re here, but we had opportunities, especially in that first half both games.”
Sinimulan ni Harden ang laro na 4 of 5 mula sa floor subalit tumapos na 12 of 29 para sa laro. Bumuslo si Gordon ng 2 of 12 mula sa 3-point range, bahagyang mas mataas sa 2 of 13 ni Harden.
Bagama’t pumutok sina Clint Capela (20 points, nine rebounds) at Tucker (14 points, 12 rebounds) sa loob, ang Rockets ay hindi naging epektibo sa perimeter.
Tumapos si Trevor Ariza na may 0 of 12, kabilang ang 0 of 9 sa 3-point attempts, habang gumawa lamang si Gerald Green ng 1 of 7 shots.
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