Oakland (USA), – The escort Klay Thompson claimed his best playoff game in the fifth of the Western Conference semifinals by contributing 27 points and leading Golden State to the 104-99 win the Rockets of Houston, which gives the Warriors a 3-2 lead in the series that plays the best of seven.
Thompson, who played 45 minutes, scored 11 of 20 field goals, including 5 of 10 triples, and a basket in a penetration with 4.1 seconds left until the game ended.
The Warriors guard, who had not featured so far in qualifying, also contributed four defensive rebounds and recovered three balls in a great defensive job.
The triumph of the Warriors occurred despite the fact that before the end of the third period star forward Kevin Durant had to leave the field with a right calf muscle injury when suffering a stretch, which forced him to leave the field and not return the rest of the game.
Durant was injured when he put his feet on the ground after making a suspended shot from the end line and immediately grabbed the back of the leg and limped to the dressing rooms of Oakland’s Oracle Arena.
But before being injured, the two-time MVP winner of the past two NBA Finals, had already brought the Warriors 22 points, five rebounds and four assists, which would also be decisive.
While point guard Stephen Curry still did not have his best scoring inspiration, he eventually found a way to help the two-time NBA champions get a major victory ahead of the sixth game at the Toyota Center on Friday. Houston
Curry was the second highest scorer with 25 points, six rebounds and five assists, but he only scored 9 of 23 field goals, 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 Warriors winning factor after contributing a double-double.
Green managed eight points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists while remaining in permanent fighting on both sides of the field, without letting the mood decay ever within the Warriors.
“It’s true that I have not had my best inspirations, but as a team we beat Durant’s loss and achieved a great victory,” Curry said at the end of the game. “Now let’s hope that Kevin (Durant) can recover and focus on the sixth game when we return to Houston.”
The Rockets lost again a great opportunity to decide in the decisive moments and to overcome the current two-time league champions, but this time the one that failed them was the base Chris Paul who did not have his best inspiration encestadora to stay with only 11 points after He scored 3 of 14 field goals and missed the six shots he made from outside the perimeter, captured six rebounds, delivered six assists and recovered two balls.
Neither the escort Eric Gordon started the game well and although in the end he finished with 19 points nuanced with 6 of 6 from the line of personnel.
Gordon missed 7 of 10 attempts of triples and that weighed like a slab in the game and in final score of the match, which again was favorable to the Rockets.
Rockets star guard James Harden did his job well and completed a good game with 31 points on 10 of 16 field goals, but like Paul and Gordon, he did not hit the decisive 3-pointers the team needed. fail 6 out of 9 attempts from outside the perimeter.
The forward PJ Tucker contributed a double-double of 13 points, 10 rebounds-nine defensive, gave an assists, recovered two balls and put a stopper to be the most complete player of the Rockets.
While the Swiss power forward Clint Capela was still not a winning factor in the Rockets’ offense by scoring just six points after missing 7 of 10 field goals, without going to the personnel line.
If he played Capela in the indoor game with 14 rebounds, including nine defensive ones, but they were not enough to avoid the penetrations of the low men of the Warriors.
Gordon with 40 seconds to play in the third period made a penetration and gave the Rockets their first advantage since the start of the game, but when more convinced was the Houston team that had the great opportunity to achieve victory, in the fourth period of new emerged the “champion” spirit of the Warriors and took a win that can be worth a league title (EFE).
