Rockets tak membiarkan permainan Jazz berkembang sejak kuarter pertama. Di kuarter ini, Rockets meraup 21 poin, sementara Jazz hanya 16 poin.
Paul sendiri mengawali torehan poinnya lewat tembakan dua angka saat pertandingan berjalan empat menit. Ini adalah satu-satunya poin yang dicetak Paul di kuarter pertama.
Paul baru menggila di kuarter kedua. Enam tembakan Paul sukses masuk di kuarter ini. Tiga di antara enam tembakan itu merupakan tembakan tiga poin.
Rockets pun menutup kuarter kedua dengan keunggulan 54-46 atas Jazz. Poin terakhri Rockets di kuarter ini diciptakan lewat tembakan tiga poin PJ Tucker.
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Finally, it’s here.
The series the NBA world has been waiting for from the moment Chris Paul requested a trade last summer that sent him to the Houston Rockets to join forces with James Harden has arrived. It's the Rockets vs. the four-time Western Conference and two-time NBA champion Golden State Warriors for West supremacy.
The Rockets had a feeling they could see this journey through to this point, even when the teams met on opening night at Oracle Arena. Houston was built to beat the champs, and did it twice in their three regular season encounters.
Rockets center Clint Capela voiced his opinions on the matchup after a January win, saying his team was superior to the champs. And he’s just as eager for this match up, in which the Rockets hold home-court advantage.
Who has the edge in the 2018 Western Conference finals?
“I’m real excited,” Capela said. “This (Warriors) team is going to be hard, it’s going to be a fight. There’s going to be a lot of adjustments after every game. It’s going to be a chess game. Of course, we’re going to be ready. They’ve been to The Finals three straight years. So we’re just excited. Everybody's excited about it. I’m sure all the NBA fans are excited about it, too.”
The Warriors are fired up, too, and have heard all the chirping.
“Now you’ve got to play the game,” All-Star forward Draymond Green said. “You wanted us, now you’ve got us.”
The Warriors are attempting to conquer the West for a fourth straight season, but this will be their first West finals without home-court advantage. Doing it against a team specifically designed to take them down just adds to a battle wrought with connections.
Golden State busted out its "Hamptons Five" lineup in the West semifinals.
Harden, Paul, Green, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson all won gold medals together, be it on the Olympic or World Cup of Basketball stage. Harden and Durant were teammates on the Oklahoma City Thunder team that lost The Finals in 2012. Paul’s LA Clippers squad in 2014 was the last West foe to knock the Warriors out of the playoffs before The Finals. And the Rockets were the team the Warriors beat in the 2015 West finals to jump-start their would-be dynasty.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni pioneered the style the Warriors have used to dominate the league while he was coaching in Phoenix, where Warriors coach Steve Kerr was the Suns GM.
The 3-pointers will fly from all directions. Both teams are capable of defending at a championship level. The personnel on both sides is ideally matched. Perhaps best of all, though, is that both teams are healthy and without any ready-made excuses overshadowing this showdown.
The Rockets are West finals-bound for the first time since 2015.
It’s best on best, a test of collective wills between the “cream of the Western Conference crop,” as Curry declared after the Warriors and Rockets each won their West semifinal series just hours apart on May 8.
The NBA world has been waiting on this heavyweight showdown. Now, it’s finally here.
3 quick questions and answers
The number to know
100.7 --The two best offensive teams in the regular season have been the two best defensive teams in the playoffs, combining to allow just 100.7 points per 100 possessions on their way to the conference finals. In the first round, the Rockets and Warriors held the Minnesota Timberwolves and San Antonio Spurs to 5.6 and 5.2 fewer points per 100 possessions than they scored in the regular season, respectively. And in the conference semifinals, they held the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans to 7.0 and 16.2 fewer points per 100 possessions than they scored in the first round, respectively. The Rockets' starting lineup has allowed just 92 points per 100 possessions in its 153 minutes, having forced more than 21 turnovers per 100 (the best mark among lineups that have played at least 75 minutes). The Warriors' "Hamptons Five" lineup, meanwhile, has allowed less than 87 points per 100 possessions in its 54 minutes, and the champs have allowed just 94 points per 100 possessions in 250 total minutes with Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala on the floor together. These teams aren't just here because of how potent their offenses are, and the team that advances to The Finals will be the one that continues to defend at a high level. -- John Schuhmann
Making the pick
The Rockets made it their mission to put together a group to avenge their 2015 and 2016 playoff failures, with the Warriors serving as their primary target. They’ve got home-court advantage, an inspired Paul and what appears to be all of the requisite parts needed to interrupt the Warriors’ dynasty plans. But do they have the nerve to snatch it all from Golden State, which took a measured approach to 2017-18 and has seemingly flipped the proverbial with another championship run on the line? Experience over ambition this time. Warriors in 6.
* * *
Sekou Smith is a veteran NBA reporter and NBA TV analyst. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.
Stephen Curry had 28 points, Kevin Durant scored 24 and the Golden State Warriors advanced to the Western Conference finals by dismantling Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans 113-104 in Game 5 on Tuesday night.
Klay Thompson added 23 points for the Warriors, who with a 15th straight home playoff win tied Chicago for an NBA record. The Bulls did so from 27 April 1990 to 21 May 1991.
Just give LeBron the ball and get out of the way | Les Carpenter Read more
Davis had 34 points and 19 rebounds for a Pelicans team that overcame the loss of DeMarcus Cousins to a season-ending torn Achilles tendon three months ago to make this strong run. The Pelicans shaved the lead to seven points with two minutes left on a basket by Davis before Draymond Green’s turnaround fadeaway moments later.
The Warriors advance to play the top-seeded Houston Rockets in what has long been an anticipated Western Conference finals matchup – with an NBA finals feel, perhaps – and one Golden State will start on the road Monday night. The teams didn’t meet during the 2017 postseason, but the Warriors won a five-game series in the first round of the 2016 playoffs. Houston eliminated Utah in its Game 5 earlier Tuesday.
Curry, who returned for Game 2 after nearly six weeks out with a knee injury, knocked down an open 3-pointer midway through the third and raised his hands to get the crowd going, then made another less than two minutes later. He converted three free throws at the 6:25 mark following a hard foul by Jrue Holiday.
In the second quarter, Holiday shoved Curry hard into the basket, enraging the two-time MVP who let the officials know how upset he was by the push and no call.
Holiday contributed 27 points and 11 assists, but even with better shooting, New Orleans couldn’t stay with deep, score-at-will Golden State.
The defending champions are serious about a repeat title, and took one step closer to that goal.
So far this postseason, with Durant and Green leading the way, the Warriors have admirably defended the slower San Antonio Spurs and now the imposing, push-the-pace Pelicans.
Green had another superb all-around night on both ends with 19 points, 14 rebounds, nine assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
The Warriors came out of halftime with a 10-0 run over the opening 1:54, forcing two Pelicans timeouts and taking control for the rest of the game.
Thompson hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the first to put Golden State up 17-10, the second right in front of his own bench as teammates erupted in celebration. He began 6 for 9 and had 14 points by the 4:10 mark of the first.
Durant became irate when Nikola Mirotic made a late, hard bump on a 3-point try with 5:23 left in the first – a play that was reviewed and Mirotic received just a common foul.
As Durant took free throws, Green tried to listen in on the Pelicans’ huddle before official Josh Tiven pulled him away.
Rockets 112, Jazz 102
Chris Paul scored a playoff career-high 41 points with eight three-pointers to finally reach the conference finals, helping the Houston Rockets eliminate the Utah Jazz 112-102 in Game 5 on Tuesday night.
It will be Houston’s second trip to the Western Conference finals in four years and the first ever for Paul. The point guard has been panned for failing to get past the second round in his nine previous trips to the postseason.
Paul, a nine-time All-Star in his first season with Houston after an offseason trade from the Los Angeles Clippers, also had 10 assists and seven rebounds. His previous career-best in the playoffs was 35 points, which he accomplished three times.
Star rookie Donovan Mitchell had 22 of his 24 points for Utah in the third quarter before leaving with about seven minutes left with an apparent left leg injury.
Houston returns to the conference finals for the first time since 2015. It’s the second straight season the Jazz lost in this round after being swept by Golden State last season.
The top-seeded Rockets led by eight points after a three-pointer by Paul with about six minutes left. The Jazz scored the next seven points, highlighted by a three-pointer from Royce O’Neale, before Paul made eight quick points to push Houston’s lead to 105-96 with about three minutes left.
Joe Ingles made a basket for Utah before Paul added another basket to make it 107-98. The crowd began chanting “CP3” repeatedly as Paul dribbled down the court on the next possession.
The Jazz were without Ricky Rubio and Dante Exum because of hamstring injuries. Rubio has missed the entire series with his injury, and Exum was injured in the third quarter of Game 5.
PJ Tucker scored a playoff career-best 19 points, and James Harden added 18 points.
Mitchell’s huge third quarter left the Jazz up by three to begin the fourth. Derrick Favors made a layup for Utah to start the final quarter before Paul and PTucker hit consecutive three-pointers to put Houston back on top 81-80 with about 10 minutes left.
Utah regained the lead on a basket by O’Neale before Houston used an 11-5 spurt, with the first five points from Gerald Green, to take a 92-87 lead with about seven minutes left. Harden capped the run with a dunk after stealing the ball from Mitchell. Mitchell was injured on that play and grabbed his left leg. He had to be helped to the bench and was quickly taken to the locker room with the help of two people.
