The Houston Rockets took on the Golden State Warriors for a second straight game without Stephen Curry and had better success at home, winning Game 3 of the series in a 97-96 thriller behind 33 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists from James Harden.
Marreese Speights scored a team-high and career playoff-high 22 points off the bench for the Warriors.
In the first quarter the Rockets came out with high energy and effort. They were visibly more comfortable on their home floor as they jumped out to a 31-18 advantage in the first. Harden had 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in the opening quarter. The Rockets shot just 38.5 percent from the field but earned their biggest lead of the first three games of the series. Their aggressiveness inside resulted in Festus Ezeli and Andrew Bogut both committing two early fouls in the first quarter.
Harden and Howard were active early:
It was also the Warriors turnovers and empty possessions giving the Rockets life, but the Warriors closed the first half on a 9-0 run after going Hack-a on Dwight Howard and Josh Smith in the final minutes. They cut the Rockets 17-point deficit down to seven at the half on a Mareese Speights go-ahead corner three before the break. Speights scored 14 of his 22 points in the first half on 4-of-5 shooting and 3-for-3 from the three-point line.
Dwight Howard earned his fourth foul when he picked up a technical in the second quarter, and the Rockets kept in rhythm in the third, although the Warriors would start to gain their edge and continued to chip away.
The Warriors only lead of the game since being up 2-0 would come with 1:25 left in the game when Ian Clark made a go-ahead floater to put Golden State up 94-93.
Trevor Ariza missed a shot at the rim on the following possession, which led to Shaun Livingston’s miscue that would have given the Warriors a three-point lead. Michael Beasley was fouled on the rebound for Livingston’s miss and knocked down both free throws, putting the Rockets back up by one.
Klay Thompson had two looks that didn’t go on the following possession, but out of the Rockets timeout, Shaun Livingston stole the inbounds pass by Trevor Ariza and Ian Clark made another go-ahead layup, putting the Warriors up by one with ten seconds left. With no timeouts left, James Harden came back and did this:
With one last chance, Draymond Green lost the ball on inbound:
The Rockets finished +15 from three and +9 on rebounds. Five players scored in double figures, including 12 points from Michael Beasley off the bench. Ian Clark scored 11 points off the bench for Golden State. Shaun Livingston added 16 points and Klay Thompson finished with 17 points on 7-of-20 shooting (0-for-7 from three).
Game 4 of Warriors-Rockets will take place on Sunday at 3:30 PM EST on ABC.
