J-Speaks: The Stakes of Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference Finals

When the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors take on the Houston Rockets in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX tonight on TNT, there will be a lot on the line for both teams. For one team, they will be playing for a chance at repeating as NBA champions as well as their hold as the top dogs in the West. While the opposition, who earned this opportunity because they earned the best record in the West is looking to earn their first trip to the NBA Finals since the 1994-95 season where led by a Hall of Fame duo put a bow on their run of back-to-back titles. The Warriors kept their hopes alive thanks to what they did at home in Game 6. 

Led by their All-Star Core Four, the defending champion Warriors overcame a rough first quarter and lambasted the Rockets 115-86 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA to tie the series at 3-3 to force a winner take all Game 7. 

The Warriors were led by the “Splash Brothers” of All-Star Klay Thompson, who had a game-high 35 points in the second half going 13 for 23 from the field, including 9 for 14 from three-point range with six rebounds and four steals and two-time league MVP and fellow perennial All-Star Stephen Curry had 29 points going 12 for 23 from the field, including 5 for 14 from three-point range with six assists, five boards and three block shots. 

While 2014 league MVP and last season’s Finals MVP in Kevin Durant was just 6 for 17 from the field, he was 10 for 14 from foul line authoring 23 points with seven rebounds and four assists. 

The ultimate swiss army knife of not just the team, but maybe the entire NBA in Draymond Green, who said after the Warriors 98-94 loss in Game 5 last Thursday night, “We’ll be back here for Game 7… You’d be a fool not to believe me,” had just four points, but had a great all-around performance with 10 rebounds, nine assists, five block shots and four steals. 

“I don’t want to go home. We worked too hard this season to go home and this is what we play for,” Thompson, who had 21 of his 35 points in the second half said to TNT’s sideline reporter David Aldridge after the win. “When your backs against the wall, it shows what you’re made of and this feels great right now, but as I’m up the tunnel David I’m going to forget about this game.”

As good as the Warriors were offensively on the night shooting 49.4 percent from the floor; hitting 16 of their 38 three-pointers; having 26 assists, compared to just 12 turnovers, and scoring 40 points in the paint. It was their defensive intensity and high level of concentration, especially in the second half that made all the difference. 

After scoring 39 points in the opening quarter, the most the Warriors have surrendered in a period during the 2018 postseason, the defending champs held the Rockets to 47 total points over the final three quarters. The had 10 block shots and 11 steals on the evening. 

After hitting 8 for 12 from three-point range in the opening stanza, the Rockets went just for 27 the rest of the game; were out-rebounded 55-49, including 13-7 on the offensive glass; were outscored in the paint 40-32 and had just 13 assists on the night. 

While the won the battle in fast break points 24-16, the Rockets shot themselves in the foot with 21 turnovers that led to 23 Warriors points. That really highlighted the absence of perennial All-Star lead guard Chris Paul who was shelved for Game 6 because of a hamstring injury he sustained in the late stages of Game 5. 

“Our defense has been really good throughout this series and tonight it was just awful to start the game,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said after the game about the Warriors rough start to Game 6. 

“We lost people in transition. We didn’t communicate. We gave up wide open threes. They scored 39 points in the first quarter and it was sort of a head scratcher. I was more worried about the offense coming into the game than the defense.” 

“But the defense eventually kicked in and obviously that led to transition and the shot making, and the second half was just amazing.”

One strength of the Warriors over these past four seasons under Kerr has been their ability to get off to great starts in the second half. That has been the case in this series versus the Rockets where they had a point differential of +6.6 in the first five games of this series. In Game 6, the Warriors outscored the Rockets 33-16 in the third quarter to take control of the game and they never looked back. 

“All season long they’ve played great third quarters. I think they tend to get dialed in a little bit more,” Kerr said of his team’s ability to raise their level of play after halftime this season. 

“Tonight, was a really good microcosm of our team in many ways. We have these lapses and then we have these burst, and everything in between. So, it’s a strange start to the game. You can tell Houston, they can see it. They can see The Finals right there and we kind of thought they would come out hot because this was a little bit of a free swing for them. Game 6 on the road. They know that they got Game 7 in their back pocket at home.” 

“So, they cam out lose. I thought they would shoot 50 threes tonight, they got 39, but it seemed like 50 to me early in the game.”

After going 4 for 18 from three-point range in the first half, the Warriors went 7 for 11 from long distance in the third period. Defensively, the Warriors forced the Rockets into seven of their 21 miscues, while committing just three of their 12 turnovers on the night. 

“Effort. Intensity, the passion. Those three things and playing smart,” Thompson said to Aldridge about what made the difference. “When we do that and we rotate, and we help each other we’re the best defensive team in the league.”

The Warriors really put a strangle on the Rockets offense as they managed just nine points on 4 for 21 from the field, missing 11 of their first 12 field goal attempts in the period. The Warriors in the final quarter scored 31 points, making 12 of their 19 shots from the field. 

As poised and smart as the Warriors played in Game 6, the Rockets in the middle stage of the third quarter on lost their composure and displayed the kind of play that got them beaten in Game 1, where they lost 119-106 and in Game 3 when they were simply blown off the Warriors court 126-85. 

During one of the timeouts, Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni said to his team as was recorded by TNT’s Inside Tracks, “There going to make there little runs, big deal. Big deal. Just keep going. Keep it going.” 

“Keep our poise we can keep our energy. If we get mad too much, we lose energy. We don’t want to do that. Stay calm.” 

That calm eventually dissipated for the Rockets, who after leading 74-73 after Warriors reserve rookie forward Jordan Bell went 1 for 2 at the foul line, the Rockets were outscored 42-12 the rest of the game.

Harden who led the way with 32 points with nine assists, seven rebounds and three steals, had just 10 points the second half, going just 4 for 10 from the field and no free throw attempts after going 8 for 9 from the charity stripe in the opening half. While he broke out of a major slump from three-point range, where he had missed his last 21 in a row, he made 4 of his first 9 triples, but finished 4 for 12 from distance on the evening. 

While Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza, and the previously mentioned Green scored in double figures with 19, 14 and 11 respectably, they really flamed out as the game went on. 

Ariza was just 6 for 18 from the field on the evening, including 2 for 9 from three-point range. While Gordon shot a solid 7 for 12 from the field, including 4 for 6 from three-point range, he was just 1 for 4 at the free throw line and committed five turnovers. 

“The bottom line is we can’t turn it over,” D’Antoni said during his postgame presser. “We need to do a better job but we knew this was going to be hard. There champs. They’re going to come back fighting and they did. They did their part. Saw a lot of things I really like out there. I like where we are.”

Starting center Clint Capela, who throughout this season has been a major contributor for the Rockets had 15 rebounds but managed just two points on three shots and recorded just one block shot in 29 minutes. 

For both the Warriors and Rockets, there season comes down to Game 7 tonight in “Clutch City.” Despite all that has transpired the prior six games, both teams have the dream of being one step closer to the Larry O’Brien trophy right in front of them. 

When the Warriors have played with that championship poise, confidence, and determination on both ends of the floor in this series, they have been the superior team. When they have not, they have gotten beaten. If they can play with an unrelenting amount of concentration for 48 minutes tonight, they will be in The Finals with a chance to defend their championship. 

“We played smart tonight or smarter. So, if we take the same focus and execute the game plan like we should I have all the confidence in the world in this team,” Thompson said to Aldridge. 

“These are the moments you live for, especially as an NBA player. You want this opportunity and it’s right there for us. So, we got to have amnesia about tonight and we got to get to Houston and stay focused.” 

For the Rockets, there entire off-season in terms of building this roster, they way they played in winning a franchise record 65 games and getting to this point of the playoffs winning their first two rounds over the Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz in five games respectably was for this moment. To have Game 7 in their house against the defending NBA champion and three-time Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors with a chance to go to The Finals. 

Whether they have Chris Paul in the lineup and healthy enough to play at a high level or not with that injured hamstring will make the difference. That said this is something anyone would want. It is up to them now to make it count, and James Harden, the presumptive 2017-18 NBA MVP must play a major part in what the Rockets hope is a victory. 

“If someone had told me we got the seventh game on our home court against Golden State would you sing up for it? Yeah, we’d sign up right there,” D’Antoni said.

“We got what we want. Now it’s up to us to go get it. They’ll be rocking. H-town will be fired up and now it’s up to us to knock them out.” 

Whatever will unfold between the defending champion Warriors and the Rockets in Game 7, winner take all of the Western Conference Finals will take place tonight at the Toyota Center from Houston, TX tonight at 9 p.m. on TNT. 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 5/26/18 9 p.m. Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals on TNT, presented by Hulu with Marv Albert, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, David Aldridge, and Kristen Ledlow; 5/26/18 11:30 p.m. edition of TNT’s “Inside the NBA,” presented by Kia with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal; www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/gs/golden-state-warriors; www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameid=401032766; and www.espn.com/nba/matchup?gameid=401032766.