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Golden State should not lose the games in which Kevin Durant registers 46, Draymond Green has an effective double triple and Andre Iguodala draws well. But the Warriors ran into a classic performance by James Harden and a great Eric Gordon night, and the Rockets are good enough to make those efforts count. Houston won 126-121 in overtime to bring the series to 2-1.
Most notable in the game were Stephen Curry's missed layups and dunks, including the effort that hung on the rim with 18 seconds to go.
This free kick gave the Rockets the ball with a lead of 5 points in overtime; the warriors chose not to foul from there for any reason. It may have been the rational decision that gave the small chances of catching up the deficit by intentional fouling. But if a team can do it, it's the best three-point shooting team of all time. Maybe Curry's lack of fluidity on Saturday convinced the Warriors to stop trying.
Curry was not always his best in the playoffs – we all remember the 2016 NBA Finals, when the most titled player was not often the best player on the field – but his Saturday night was extremely bad. Is his finger hurt? Has he been thunderstruck? Is it (consciously or not) leaving Durant to dominate to be able (Durant) to leave the Warrors in peace this summer? Does Father Time make an early home visit to Curry?
Should warriors be worried?
As long as they have Durant (so at least for the rest of the post-season), there's no reason to worry, though winning the fourth game against Houston could change that as well. Strange times for Golden State.
The scores
Warriors 121, Rockets 126 (EO)
Golden State leads the series 2-1
Program
Raptors at Sixers, 3:30 ET, ABC
Philadelphia leads 2-1
Nuggets at Blazers 7 ET, TNT
Portland leads 2-1
Connections
Good Sunday games to come!
Shootaround Sunday by Paul Flannery on Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Growing Bucks.
LeBron was flabbergasted when he learned of the brutal resignation of Magic Johnson. It's good.
The report of the last 22 minutes of the NBA on the last two minutes of regulation and all overtime of Nuggets-Blazers was pretty clean and became a rallying point in the idea of making public the 48-minute reports on the calls from officials.
Kirk Goldsberry explains how James Harden combined intelligent analytic decision making and clever antics to draw as many mistakes on three points.
The 4OT player from Royce Young was helpful in re-treating what we watched on Friday night and Saturday morning. Honestly, I still have a little hangover from this experience.
How Tobias Harris continues to impact young lives, even in the cities where he was traded.
Be excellent to each other.
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