NBA Playoffs 2017: Rockets vs. Thunder Game 3 live stream: Watch online
By Luke Norris
After fighting back to claim a Game 2 victory, the Rockets hold a 2-0 lead on the Thunder as the series shifts to Oklahoma City. Here’s a quick preview and where, when and how to watch Game 3 of this best-of-seven series.
The Oklahoma City Thunder find themselves just two games from elimination after the Houston Rockets fought back from an early double-digit deficit to claim a 115-111 victory in Game 2 of this best-of-seven series. While James Harden had another solid performance with 35 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds, he got some help from his teammates, most notably Patrick Beverley, who came up big once again with 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting, and Eric Gordon and Lou Williams off the bench, who combined for 43 points, going 6-for-10 from beyond the arc.
Russell Westbrook, on the other hand, didn’t have a ton of help. Andre Roberson had another nice game with 12 points and 8 rebounds and Doug McDermott came off the bench to hit four of his five shots, including three of his four 3-point attempts, scoring 11 points in 13 minutes of action. But Steven Adams was disappointing once again with just five points, Victor Oladipo is still struggling shooting the basketball, going just 4-for-14 from the floor, and Taj Gibson, who started the game off very nicely, seemed to just disappear after a while.
However, perhaps the reason it seems that Westbrook didn’t get a ton of help is because he seemed to lose confidence in his teammates in the second half. After dishing out 10 assists in the first half, he had just three in the final 24 minutes and took an astonishing 18 shots in the final quarter, making only four of them. The Thunder were playing very good team basketball in the first half but then just got away from it, allowing Houston to claw back and chip away at the lead they’d built early on, finally managing to take a lead with about eight minutes to go and ultimately finishing them off.
Let’s take a look at the projected starting lineups for Game 3 and what they’ve been doing so far in the series.
Houston Rockets
C-Clint Capela (10.5 points, 8.5 rebounds)
PF-Ryan Anderson (4.0 points, 7.5 rebounds)
SF-Trevor Ariza (4.0 points, 4.0 rebounds)
SG-Patrick Beverley (18.0 points, 8.0 rebounds)
PG-James Harden (36.0 points, 8.5 assists, 5.5 rebounds)
Oklahoma City Thunder
C-Steven Adams (5.5 points, 6.0 rebounds)
PF-Taj Gibson (6.5 points, 3.0 rebounds)
SF-Andre Roberson (15.0 points, 7.5 rebounds)
SG-Victor Oladipo (8.5 points, 6.5 rebounds)
PG-Russell Westbrook (36.5 points, 10.0 assists, 10.5 rebounds)