Rockets bounce back with dominant Game 2 win over Warriors: 3 takeaways

The Houston Rockets took it to the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 to tie the Western Conference Finals up at 1-1.

Facing what was essentially a must-win Game 2, the Rockets responded to their 13-point Game 1 loss in serious fashion with a 127-105 victory over the Warriors. The Western Conference Finals is now tied at 1-1 with the series shifting to Oakland for Sunday’s Game 3.

After a sluggish start by both teams, the Rockets found a groove on both ends and didn’t let up the rest of the night. Houston led by 14 points at halftime and had an answer to every run Golden State made.

While the Rockets controlled the entire game, it looked like the Warriors might have one last surge in them when they trimmed a 19-point deficit down to 11 with just over eight minutes to play. With the Hamptons Five on the court, the defending champs can turn a double-digit deficit around as fast as anybody.

Instead, Eric Gordon hit a miracle 3-pointer over Draymond Green, which was indicative of how this game went:

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/996948628928389120

A James Harden bucket and P.J. Tucker 3-pointer later, the margin was back up to 19 points and it was a wrap. Gordon and Harden led Houston’s barrage with 27 points apiece. The Rockets shot 51.1 percent from the field and hit 16 3-pointers to just nine for Golden State.

Takeaways

The Rockets pushed pace and got the others involved. The main talking point after Game 1 was that the Rockets needed to speed up their tempo and not run as many drawn-out isolations that featured a lot of dribbling and end-of-shot-clock situations. While isolations will always be a part of their game because they’re good at them, Houston clearly made it a point to push the pace and get the ball moving more. Given the offensive production, the adjustment clearly worked.

The Rockets had seven fastbreak points in the first quarter alone after having only three total in Game 1. And although they finished with just 12 fastbreak points for the game, Houston kept the ball moving and got everybody involved. In addition to the 27 points apiece for Harden and Gordon, P.J. Tucker and Trevor Ariza combined for 41 points on 15-of-18 shooting after they combined for nine points in Game 1. Tucker scored a playoff career-high 22 points, while Ariza also dished out a season-high six assists.

Chris Paul was the fifth Rocket in double-figures with 16 points. Paul added six assists and was a key part of Houston pushing pace early:

Paul appeared to tweak his leg late in the game, but it didn’t look serious.

The Warriors were sloppy and unfocused from the start. The Warriors were clearly out of sorts right from the opening tip. After only nine turnovers in Game 1, they racked up five in the first five minutes alone and had 11 in the first half. Steve Kerr even admitted during a first-half sideline interview that this kind of lackadaisical play has happened too often this season after they start feeling too good about themselves. Golden State took better care of the ball in the second half and finished with 15 turnovers for the game, but by then it was too late.

The Rockets’ defense deserves credit for their aggressiveness and discipline following a sloppy performance on Monday, but the Warriors also had plenty of unforced errors. Nobody found a rhythm outside of Kevin Durant, who poured in 38 points on 13-of-22 shooting but didn’t record a single assist. Durant only has one assist in the series, and the Rockets will live with him dominating the offense if nobody else goes off. That’s much easier said than done, but it happened in Game 2 as the next closest scorer was Stephen Curry with 16 points. Klay Thompson had just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting after pouring in 28 in Game 1.

Golden State’s defense also was out of whack, with Houston’s increased pace and ball movement leading to some ugly breakdowns.

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Stephen Curry isn’t quite himself, and we may just have a series because of it. Curry put up a respectable stat line of 16 points, seven assists and seven rebounds, but he shot just 7-of-19 and went 1-of-8 on 3-pointers. He’s now 2-of-13 from 3 in the series, with many of those misses off the front of the rim. The two-time MVP doesn’t seem to have his legs on those dagger attempts as he works his way back from his injury, and just like we saw in 2016, there’s a decent chance he won’t be quite himself for the rest of the postseason. The fact that the Rockets are ruthlessly targeting his defense also has to be adding another layer of fatigue, plus there’s the physicality the Rockets’ defense plays with against him when he’s moving without the ball.

If Curry isn’t Curry, the Rockets have a much better chance of winning this series. The Warriors obviously still have an unfair amount of talent regardless, but their ceiling is lowered when Curry is just ordinary and not going supernova. Watch for Kerr to try to get Curry going back at Oracle Arena for Game 3. When Curry is rolling, that’s usually when Golden State is at its peak.