Pushed to the brink of elimination, the Golden State Warriors survived Game 6 at home to push the Houston Rockets to a Game 7, which was played at the Toyota Center in Houston. Going in, the Rockets were without star point guard Chris Paul and the Warriors were missing Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.

In a tale of two halves, the Warriors came out on top to advance to the NBA Finals for the fourth consecutive year in yet another rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Houston’s first-half dominance

It wasn’t an easy battle for the Warriors, who came out sluggish.

It was all Houston in the first half, throwing up alley-oops to Clint Capela, getting to the line, and outrebounding and outhustling the Warriors.

James Harden led the way with 16 points at the half, and Capela secured 14 points and seven rebounds. It seemed like the Warriors were a step slower in the first half, as the Rockets were virtually getting anything they wanted. Eric Gordon also had a solid half, scoring 14 points and racking up four assists.

A tale of two halves

In Game 6, the Warriors outscored the Rockets by 17 in the third quarter. The same theme continued in Game 7. This time the Warriors outscored Houston by 18 points in the third stanza to take a seven-point lead into the fourth period.

As mentioned in keys to the game, three-point shooting is a very important aspect when it comes to these two teams.

The turning point was midway through the third quarter when the Warriors unleashed three consecutive threes on the Rockets courtesy of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. It was at that point when the Warriors captured the lead and didn’t look back.

Moments later, Curry hit two more threes to brutally sting the Rockets.

In the third quarter alone, Golden State was a plus-21 from beyond the arc. The Rockets missed all 14 of their three-point tries in the third, which was their downfall. The onslaught continued in the fourth quarter, as the Warriors tacked on four more three-pointers compared to Houston’s one.

The Rockets missed 27 consecutive three-pointers during this contest, which goes down in NBA history as the most consecutive missed threes in a playoff game.

The Warriors closed out the game to win, 101-92, en route to another Finals appearance. Durant scored a game-high 34 points while adding five rebounds and five assists. Stephen Curry nearly notched a triple-double, scoring 27 points, dishing out 10 assists, grabbing nine rebounds, four steals, and knocking down seven threes. Despite being in foul trouble throughout the first half, Klay Thompson added 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting.

Harden led the Rockets with 32 points, six assists, six rebounds, and four steals, while Gordon tacked on 23 points, six assists, and three rebounds.

Capela had 20 points and nine rebounds, and P.J. Tucker put up a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.

The three-point shooting

Dissecting the three-point shooting furthermore, the Warriors shot 41 percent from the arc, while the Rockets shot just 15.9 percent. Golden State was an overall plus-27 from three, which aided them to victory. Trevor Ariza was by far the most disappointing player of this game, going scoreless on 0-of-12 shooting.

The second half of this game is exactly how the Warriors have played throughout the season, consisting of multiple screens, passes, and a lot of man movement, which all results into wide open threes. They will play the Cavaliers for the four straight time, a Finals series that will debut on May 31.
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