In the final NBA Cup quarterfinal, Houston hosted and beat Golden State in an objectively ugly, subjectively very fun 91-90 grindhouse win defined by incredible defense on both sides, yet another late-game Warriors meltdown, and Steve Kerr going totally ballistic after the loss. The game was a pretty illustrative example of a number of larger-order trends in the league this year, from both a gameplay level and broadcasting standpoint, especially at the end.
What happened is the Warriors blew it. They ripped off a trademark third-quarter burst, the only frame in which either team scored more than 25, and nursed a small lead throughout the fourth. The dynamic when the Warriors had the ball involved Golden State desperately running around trying to use Steph Curry's gravity to unzip something somewhere else in the airtight Houston defense before the Rockets forced a shot-clock violation, which they did an incredible eight times on the night (they also forced an eight-second violation). Golden State only so much as hit the rim once in the final three minutes. Houston's offense, by contrast, centered around giving Alperen Sengun the ball and letting him operate in the post. It was honest, physically punishing stuff, old-school principles applied against and alongside hypermodern basketball. Both teams are winning this year with defense and depth, which to me are the two big league-wide stories this season.
Anyway, Golden State should have won, as the Warriros built up a seven-point lead off of a Jonathan Kuminga three with 3:34 left. From that point on, they went 0-for-5 with three turnovers (two of them shot-clock violations) as the Rockets clamped down. Their penultimate miss came with 11 seconds left and a one-point lead, as Curry shook Dillon Brooks and hoisted a step-back three-pointer. The rebound ping-ponged around between Sengun, Kevon Looney, Fred VanVleet, and Gary Payton II, who flung it away instead of accepting a jump ball. Jalen Green out-dove Kuminga for the loose ball and referee Bill Kennedy whistled Kuminga for leaping on Green's back. This prompted Kerr to freak out.
Green hit both free throws and the Rockets played one more perfect defensive possession to seal the win, booking their tickets to Las Vegas. It was an ugly win, with the final few minutes extremely choppy and contentious, and Houston was able to execute more cleanly amid interminable reviews, challenges, and airings of grievances.
A despondent Kerr lit into the officials after the game. "I'm pissed off," he said. "I wanted to go to Las Vegas. We wanted to win this Cup, and we aren't going because of a loose ball foul, 80 feet from the basket with the game on the line. I've never seen anything like it in my life, and that was ridiculous." Kerr and Curry both made the point that officials had pointedly let both teams play, missing a pretty blatant Aaron Holiday foul on Curry in the fourth quarter and calling a fairly consistent game, only to help Houston win at the last second because of a loose-ball foul. Kerr characterized the Kuminga foul as one "I don't think an elementary-school referee would've made," which is very funny, and asserted that the Warriors "deserved to win that game."
The Warriors are a weird, frustrating team, one prone to bafflingly long stretches of stupid shit. They play consistent, connected defense, though they commit too many boneheaded turnovers and foul too often. I get being frustrated with losing under these circumstances, but also, you should hit the rim more than once in the last three minutes of a game against a conference rival if you want your case about injustice to be taken more seriously.
This was the first time Houston's beaten Golden State since Feb. 2020, and as both of their recent meetings have been good, I'd love to see a playoff matchup between these two. While this Rockets team is totally different from that James Harden-era one, they've imported a bunch of players with various beeves against the Warriors (Brooks, VanVleet, Steven Adams, plus head coach Ime Udoka), and they can also engage in these brutal, internecine physical wars. Every game of the series would end 87-85 and the losing coach would reliably earn a five-figure fine, and I'd watch every minute of it.
