This one will really be pretty temporary, as it’s very late for me. It nearly got very late for the Rockets, too. Despite having a double digit lead in the 4th quarter, the Rockets nearly (but didn’t!) lost it late. If you’ve ever seen most video games where the Rockets play Golden State in San Francisco, with Steph Curry enjoying, you can be forgiven in the fourth quarter for considering that you knew how this one would finish.
Steph Curry would shoot a bunch of troublesome three pointers late, make them, and the Rockets would be unable to match it. There would be gushing announcers, if a national sport. (Check!) There would be some iffy calls. (Check!) There would be Draymond and his particular, personal, set of guidelines. (Check!) There would be a Curry dagger to give the Warriors an inconceivable win. (Nope!)
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I signed up for this recap with a healthy quantity of trepidation, but no one can say that I am not a glutton for punishment. I wouldn’t have achieved that, though, if I realized that
A. Steph Curry would be returning from a long absence.
In retrospect, of course he would. He would positively return at home, against the Rockets, if such a factor was even remotely doable.
B. It was Easter Sunday.
I did know it was Easter of course, but I hadn’t put the two collectively. That Rockets followers were being set up to endure some kind of “He Is Risen! The Holy Gnawer Himself! The Bay Area’s Lord and Savior!” story line. It was very close, but happily this reverse miracle didn’t fairly happen.
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What occurred? Well, the Rockets had a pretty strong lead. Then they put in some bizarre lineups, and lost most of that lead to Warriors Randos. The the Warriors put in Steph Curry, the Rockets answered with still odder lineups, with even less capturing, but in concept (but not observe, as it didn’t get stops) more protection. Yeah, you’ve seen this film before, proper?
Well, not fairly. The the Warriors took a 116-115 lead at 19.6 seconds remaining on a goaltend call on Amen Thompson that regarded like it might not face up to a problem. The Rockets didn’t have a problem, so we will never know. The Rockets called a timeout.
You can be forgiven for dreading this kind of out of timeout state of affairs, late, with the sport on the line. You might have been anticipating that the Rockets would power a harmful inbounds cross to Kevin Durant in the middle of the court, somewhere close to mid court. You might foresee that he’d be immediately swarmed, and either throw a harmful cross to a participant who couldn’t get a shot off, and would then lob a grenade to someone else. That particular person would miss. That would be lost fourth quarter lead #18.
Friends, it didn’t occur. The Rockets ran a play. That’s the Easter Basketball Miracle. They ran a play. Durant did get the ball, but not on the inbounds, and not at midcourt. He dribbled along the sideline, while Alperen Sengun rambled down the lane towards the basket. Golden State, having lost Kristaps Porzingis to fouls, was enjoying very small by necessity. It had been working nicely for foiling the aforementioned unusual lineups (a lot more Aaron Holiday and JaeSean Tate than appeared clever.) The 7ft Durant made an simple cross to the 6’11” Alperen Sengun over the Golden State defenders, for an simple end. 117-116.
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Sill there were a few seconds left, but Golden State was out of timeouts. If you’ve watched enough of these video games, you have a healthy worry of what might come next. Curry makes a miracle heave, also falls down, just in case, and then does a little dance on the ground. Reggie Miller squeals in delight. Etc.
But no. It wasn’t a good look, there was no doable foul, and Curry just missed from 30ft. The sport was over. The Narrative was defeated, someway. The Rockets won.
There’s more to speak about on this one, but not at 2am for me. That was the defining second of this sport, despite an glorious sport from Kevin Durant general (late, painful turnovers apart), Jabari Smith, and very good video games from Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun.
Let’s take this win and be blissful. It’s not what I expected, but it’s positively what I hoped for when I signed up to write up this sport.
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PS – Jabari Smith had a very wonderful sport, and was the participant interview at the half. He wasn’t requested about his sport, or his group. Nope. Jabari was requested to speak about what Steph Curry returning meant to him. I’m not kidding. This occurred.
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