The Golden State Warriors had a 3-1 lead. They’re now headed to a Game 7. What could go wrong?
Behind a scorching performance from Fred VanVleet, the Houston Rockets defeated the Warriors 115-107 in Game 6 of their first-round series on Friday, staying alive for a second straight game. Game 7 is scheduled for Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
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The Warriors spent much of the game in striking distance, but every step forward was met with an answer from the Rockets. Most of those answers came from Fred VanVleet, who posted 29 points on 7-of-13 shooting.
With that performance, Game 6 was a double dose of bad memories for the Warriors. We all remember what happened the last time the Warriors entered a Game 7 after blowing a 3-1 lead, their legendary 2016 Finals loss, and you also might remember VanVleet dropping 22 points, 12 of them in the fourth quarter, in the final game of the 2019 Finals.
VanVleet powered the 12-0 run in the fourth quarter that won the Rockets the game. Houston was so dominant in the fourth quarter, the Warriors didn’t score their second field goal of the frame until there were less than four minutes left.
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It was a mature win for the Rockets, who had to survive an extra helping of Stephen Curry, antics from Draymond Green, a persistent attempt to force Steven Adams into free throws and a Chase Center crowd that was raucous until it finally fell into stunned silence midway through the fourth quarter.
Will Stephen Curry be gassed for Game 7?
Losing a Game 6 is one thing. Losing a Game 6 after keeping your 37-year-old in the game for every competitive minute of the second half is another.
The Warriors had an opportunity to close out this series and attempted to do so with maximum effort. When Curry took his third foul in the second quarter, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr kept him in the game and was rewarded with a personal 11-0 run to tie the game. In five possessions, the Warriors went Curry 3-pointer, Buddy Hield miss, Curry and-1, Curry free throws, Curry 3-pointer.
Curry was back out there at the start of the second half, and stayed in the game until the briefest of rests with 3:07. That’s brief as in he officially sat for a total of two seconds, exiting the game on one pair of free throws and coming right back in after a hack-an-Adams foul, at the 3:05 mark. He just needed to sit down.
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Curry finished the game with 42 minutes played, his highest total of the series. It was a strategy only JJ Redick could love.
We’ll see if it affects him in Game 7.
Draymond Green’s flagrants are once again an issue
You might recall Draymond Green once receiving a one-game suspension in the 2016 NBA Finals after accruing four flagrant fouls across the playoffs. He is on pace to repeat that feat before the Western Conference finals even start, if the Warriors even make it that far.
Green earned his second flagrant foul minutes into the game for grabbing Jalen Green’s hair and pushing him down. The two have something of a history together.
If Green picks up two more flagrant fouls, the Warriors will play their next game without their starting power forward. Even ESPN’s announcers sounded done with his schtick.
