The Warriors overcame an injury to Stephen Curry and used a big third quarter to pull away from the Rockets in Sunday's Game 4 win.
GAME LEADERS
The Warriors overcame an injury to the league’s reigning MVP and responded in a major way, posting a 121-94 victory in Game 4 on Sunday in Houston. With the win, the Dubs take a 3-1 series advantage and will look to close it out in Game 5 on Wednesday at Oracle Arena.
After Stephen Curry – who was playing for the first time since the opening minutes of the third quarter of Game 1 last Saturday – suffered a sprained right knee at the end of the second quarter, the Warriors got hot in the third period and turned what was a tie game at the half into a laugher.
Draymond Green started the splash party by hitting a trey on the Dubs’ first possession of the second half. That would be a sign of things to come, as the Warriors would connect on seven of their first eight 3-pointers in the third quarter. Klay Thompson made four treys in the period, Green had three and Harrison Barnes drilled one as the Warriors out-scored the Rockets 41-20 in the quarter.
The Warriors finished with 21 3-pointers, an NBA record for a playoff game. Nine different Warriors players had at least one trey, and the team shot 52.5 percent from distance.
A game after missing all seven of his 3-point attempts, Thompson sank seven 3-pointers in the Game 4 victory, pacing the Dubs with 23 points. Andre Iguodala gave the Dubs a big lift, going 3-for-4 from distance, and finished with a season-high 22 points, and Draymond Green stuffed the stat sheet – as usual – with 18 points (4-for-6 on 3-pointers), eight rebounds and six assists.
Prior to exiting the game with injury, Curry tallied six points and five assists in 18 minutes. He shot just 2-for-9 from the floor, but the other Splash Brother picked it up in the early going. Thompson made three treys in the first seven minutes of the game, helping the Dubs to a 10-point lead in the first quarter.
Houston, however, would rally with some hot shooting, and James Harden tied the game with a 3-pointer to beat the first quarter buzzer. The Rockets shot 65 percent over the first 15 minutes of the game, and they led by as many as seven points after going on an 8-0 run early in the second quarter. With both teams using a fouling strategy to force the opposing big men to shoot free throws, the game lost its rhythm.
And even with the crowd in the game and momentum seemingly in the Rockets’ favor, the Warriors weathered the storm and hung in the game. Iguodala had a big role in keeping the Warriors close with 13 points in the first half on 5-for-7 shooting. His final basket of the half – a left-handed dunk with 4.4 seconds left on the clock – tied the game at 56-56. Seconds later, Curry slipped on a wet spot on the floor while running back on defense. He fell awkwardly and limped off the court with a sprained right knee, and did not return to the game.
Thankfully for the Warriors, they were so hot in the second half that they didn’t really need the three-time All-Star. The Dubs, now 10-0 following a loss this season, had 38 assists on 46 made baskets. Shaun Livingston led the team with nine helpers to accompany his nine points, once again stepping up in Curry’s absence.
The Warriors are now one win away from advancing to the second round of the NBA Playoffs, and they’ll look to finish off the Rockets when the series resumes with Game 5 on Wednesday at Oracle Arena.