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Warriors crush Rockets to force Game 7

The Golden State Warriors showed their championship mettle, roaring back to rout the Houston Rockets 115-86 to force a decisive Game 7 in the NBA Western Conference finals yesterday morning (Singapore time).

Klay Thompson scored 35 points, Stephen Curry scored 29 and Kevin Durant added 23 as the Warriors rallied from a 17-point first-quarter deficit to tie the best-of-seven series at 3-3 - and keep their bid to reach a fourth straight championship series alive.

This is the first time since 1979 that both Conference finals series went the full seven games, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

"I don't want to go home," said Thompson, who made nine three-pointers. "We worked too hard this season to go home."

But, in the early going, it looked like the Warriors would do just that.

The Rockets, who led the league with 65 regular-season wins, ran roughshod over Golden State in the opening quarter as they raced to a 39-22 lead.

Houston's Most Valuable Player candidate James Harden dominated early, finishing with 32 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

But the Warriors defence clamped down on Harden in the second half and the Rockets felt the absence of injured point-guard Chris Paul, who suffered a strained right hamstring in the Rockets' Game 5 victory.

"I thought Klay was amazing tonight, not just for 35 points and the nine threes, but his defence," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

"The guy's a machine."

The Warriors showed signs of life in the second quarter, putting together a 23-11 scoring run and trimming the deficit to five points. But they trailed 61-51 at half-time.

Then came one of their trademark third-quarter surges.

Golden State opened the second half on an 11-0 scoring run, taking the lead for the first time since the opening minutes when Curry drained a three-pointer for a 62-61 advantage.

Soon, the rout was on.

The Warriors outscored the Rockets 64-25 in the second half, limiting Harden to 10 points after the break.

Eric Gordon, starting in place of Paul, scored just three of his 19 points after the interval.

The lack of defensive focus that plagued Golden State early on was mirrored by the Rockets later.

"A lot of miscommunication," Harden said. "That first quarter we did a really good job of communicating, limiting them on threes, just contesting everything, making everything difficult."

Although they couldn't keep that up, Harden said, the Rockets remain confident they can close out the series on their home floor tomorrow morning (Singapore time) and return to the NBA Finals for the first time since Houston won back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995.

Likewise, Thompson said the Warriors would be ready. - AFP

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