Guard Klay Thompson claimed his best playoff game in the fifth of the Western Conference semifinals by contributing 27 points and leading Golden State to a 104-99 victory over the Houston Rockets, which gives an advantage the Warriors 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.
Thompson, who played 45 minutes, scored 11 of 20 shots from the field, including 5 of 10 triples, and a basket on a penetration with 4.1 seconds left in the game that left the game sentenced.
The Warriors guard, who had not stood out so far in the playoffs, also contributed four defensive rebounds and recovered three balls in a great defensive work.
The Warriors’ triumph came despite the fact that before the end of the third period, star forward Kevin Durant had to leave the field with a muscle injury in his right calf after suffering a stretch, which forced him to leave the field and not return the rest of the party.
Durant was injured when he put his feet on the ground after taking a jump shot from the baseline and immediately grabbed the back of his leg and limped off to the locker room at Oracle Arena in Oakland.
But before his injury, the two-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) winner of the past two NBA Finals had already contributed 22 points, five rebounds and four assists to the Warriors, which would also be decisive.
While point guard Stephen Curry still lacked his best scoring inspiration, but in the end he found a way to help the two-time NBA champions get an important victory heading into Game 6 on Friday at the Toyota Center in Houston
Curry was the second leading scorer with 25 points, six rebounds and five assists, but he made only 9 of 23 shots from the field, including 3 of 11 from outside the perimeter.
While power forward Draymond Green, again, was the player who injected energy to the Warriors after losing the previous two games in Houston, and although he received the fourth technical foul, in the end he was also a winning factor for the Warriors after contributing a double-double.
Green had eight points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists while he was constantly fighting on both sides of the field, never letting the spirit fade within the Warriors.
“It is true that I have not had my best scoring inspiration either, but as a team we overcame Durant’s loss and achieved a great victory,” said Curry at the end of the game. “Now let’s hope Kevin (Durant) can recover and focus on Game 6 when we get back to Houston.”
The Rockets again lost a great opportunity to decide in the decisive moments and be able to overcome the current two-time league champions, but this time the one who failed them was the point guard Chris Paul who did not have his best scoring inspiration by remaining with just 11 points after scoring 3 of 14 shots from the field and missed all six shots he made from outside the perimeter, grabbed six rebounds, handed out six assists and recovered two balls.
Nor did the guard Eric Gordon start the game well and although in the end he finished it with 19 points, he qualified them with 6 of 6 from the personnel line.
Gordon missed 7 of 10 3-point attempts and that weighed heavily on the game and on the final score of the game, which again was in favor of the Rockets.
The Rockets’ star guard, James Harden, did his job well and completed a good game with 31 points on 10 of 16 shots from the field, but like Paul and Gordon, he did not hit the decisive triples that the team needed to missing 6 of 9 attempts from outside the perimeter.
Forward PJ Tucker contributed a double-double of 13 points, 10 rebounds – nine defenders -, gave an assists, recovered two balls and put a block to be the most complete player of the Rockets.
While the Swiss center Clint Capela continued not to be a winning factor in the Rockets offense, scoring just six points after missing 7 of 10 shots from the field, without going to the personnel line.
Capela did deliver in the inside game with 14 rebounds, including nine defenders, but they weren’t enough to prevent penetrations from the Warriors’ short men.
Gordon with 40 seconds to go of the third period made a penetration and gave the Rockets their first lead since the start of the game, but when the Houston team was most convinced that they had a great chance of victory, in the fourth period of Once again, the Warriors’ “champion” spirit emerged and they won a victory that can be worth a league title.