Rockets hold off Warriors in 131-116 win to extend series

Wednesday night, the Houston Rockets hosted the Golden State Warriors in a Game 5 matchup that was win-or-go-home for Houston.

The Rockets made it clear that they weren’t done playing basketball yet, walloping the Warriors in a 131-116 win.

Fred VanVleet led the Rockets in scoring, finishing with 26 points in his second straight strong shooting performance. Meanwhile, Amen Thompson added 25 and Dillon Brooks had 24.

After the win, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said VanVleet’s strong shooting over the last two games was created from being patient and taking advantage of shifting focus from Golden State’s defense, specifically on Houston’s regular season leading scorer, Jalen Green.

“[VanVleet] takes whatever the game gives him,” Udoka said. “He’s not the type to force it.”

Moses Moody led the Warriors in scoring, finishing with 25 points. Warriors’ star Stephen Curry finished with just 13, although he was off the floor for a majority of the second half.

Udoka said he believes that the team’s defensive consistency has improved throughout the series, helping the squad effectively stifle the Warriors’ offense compared to the last several games.

“I think our focus was great,” Udoka said. “It feels like we’re getting more consistent recognition of what they’re doing as the series goes on… [We] played great on both sides.”

Houston jumped all over Golden State from the opening tip, opening the floodgates and heading into the half with a 76-49 lead.

Near the end of the third quarter, both teams took out their starters, and the game seemed to be trending towards garbage time. However, the Warriors started the fourth quarter on a 17-4 scoring run that forced the Rockets to put their stars back on the floor to stop the bleeding.

Like every other game in this series thus far, things got kind of chippy. An altercation in the fourth quarter between Houston’s Alperen Sengun and Golden State’s Trayce Jackson-Davis and Pat Spencer led to offsetting technical fouls for Sengun and Jackson-Davis, while Spencer was ejected for head-butting the Rockets’ star.

The Rockets’ Game 5 win forces a Game 6 in the Bay Area, where Houston has yet to win a game in this series. Game 6 will be on Friday, May 2.