With their backs up against the wall and one game away from starting their summer vacation early, the Rockets delivered a playoff masterpiece and a counter punch all at the same time Wednesday night to beat the Warriors and keep their season alive.
Fred VanVleet scored a game-high 26 points, Amen Thompson added 25 and the Houston Rockets avoided elimination with a 131-116 rout of the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 of a first-round playoff series.
Game 6 is Friday in San Francisco at 9 p.m. ET. On ESPN.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr made the controversial decision to wave the white flag early in this one, with the game out of hand. A layup by VanVleet midway through the third quarter made it a 29-point game, 93-64, and Kerr called timeout and emptied his bench.
“Houston was great, and they took it to us right away,” Kerr said. “But like I said, it was an important finish.”
Houston coach Ime Udoka followed suit with about a minute left on the clock in the third and his team up 105-76. He put all his starters back in with about eight minutes left after the Warriors sliced into the lead considerably, making it a 17-point game, 109-92.
Defensive specialist Dillon Brooks added 24 points on a night when all five Rocket starters scored double figures.
Embed from Getty ImagesA 9-5 run by the Warriors got them within 114-101 before a pushing and shoving match broke out with about four minutes to go. Pat Spencer pushed Brooks and then was ejected after headbutting Alperen Sengun in the ensuing scuffle.
Houston went on a 7-2 run after that to put the game out of reach.
The Rockets put together their best game this postseason to extend the series after losing both games in San Francisco, including Game 3, which Jimmy Butler sat out with a pelvic bruise.
They raced to a 14-point lead after one quarter and by the time Stephen Curry made his first basket on a 3-pointer midway through the second, they led 55-32.
They had a 27-point lead at halftime behind 19 points from VanVleet, who beat the Warriors in 2019 as a member of the Toronto Raptors.
Butler had a quiet night, scoring just eight points in 25 minutes on 2-of-10 from the field after combining for 52 points in the two full games he had played in this series.
Curry was 4 of 12 for 13 points after putting up more than 30 in two of the first four games to move the Warriors within a game of clinching the series.
The Warriors made 15 of 44 3-pointers and shot 41.7% overall. The Rockets made 13 of 30 3s and shot a red-hot 55.1%.
By extending the series, the Rockets have a rare opportunity to become the 14th team in NBA history to overcome a 3-1 deficit in a best-of-seven series. Houston has done it twice, most recently in the 2015 Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Warriors were on the wrong end of such a comeback, losing the 2016 NBA Finals to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers after having a 3-1 advantage.
Golden State has dominated the Rockets in the playoffs, eliminating them four times between 2015 and 2019.
