NBA PREVIEW

Warriors regroup at home vs. Rockets in Game 5

Field Level Media

May 07, 2019 at 10:37 pm.

The Golden State Warriors return to the scene of two first-round losses when they host the Houston Rockets in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday night in Oakland, Calif.

In what has turned into a best-of-three for the second straight year in a duel of Western powers, the home team has won each of the first four contests in this series, capped by the Rockets’ series-tying, 112-108 home win on Monday night.

In last year’s Western finals, Houston broke the 2-2 tie with a win in Game 5, but that was at home. Golden State then swept the final two games to reach the NBA Finals, where they captured their second straight championship and third in four years.

After losing Games 2 and 5 at home to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round this year, the top-seeded Warriors began a run of home-court wins against the Rockets with hard-fought, 104-100 and 115-109 triumphs.

They outshot the Rockets 48.2 percent to 44.4 and outrebounding the visitors 41.5 per game to 33.5 in those contests.

The fourth-seeded Rockets flipped the tables with 126-121 and 112-108 home wins, dominating the Warriors on the boards to the tune of 52.5 per game to 39.0, while also slightly outshooting Golden State 46.2 percent to 45.4.

There’s no doubt in Draymond Green’s mind what the Warriors need to do better in Game 5.

“We didn’t match their physicality until the last four minutes of the game,” he told reporters after the Game 4 loss. “It’s been that way for about the last 96 minutes of the series, so we have to correct that.”

The Warriors might find themselves having to do so either without or with a limited Andre Iguodala, who hyperextended his left knee late in the game Monday.

He said after the loss that he’d be fine for Game 5, but his status — play or not; start or not — will be a game-time decision.

The Warriors’ chief defender against James Harden, Iguodala has played 29 or more minutes in all four games of the series. He played more than 29 minutes just seven times during the regular season.

He’s also started all four games alongside Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Green, after never having joined that All-Star quartet in the starting lineup in any regular-season game during his Warriors career.

Iguodala, Durant and Thompson all took their shots at defending Harden in Game 4, none with consistent success. Harden bombed in a game-high 38 points, complementing that with 10 rebounds to complete a double-double.

Rebounding, after Houston nabbed 13 offensive boards in Game 4, is what forward P.J. Tucker believes must continue if the Rockets are to get a needed win in either Game 5 or Game 7 in Oakland.

“We got to be better on the road,” Tucker told reporters Monday. “We have to be more physical. We have to impose our will more. Those first two games wasn’t us. We had chances to win those games, but we didn’t play our brand of basketball for the whole game.

“We stepped it up at home. We played OK, and we got some wins. But we have to be better.”

The series is assured of returning to Houston for Game 6 on Friday. Game 7, if necessary, would be Sunday in Oakland.

ALL  |  NFL  |  College Football  |  MLB  |  NBA