To be sure, Barkley's prediction is no longer possible — after the last Warriors beat the Rockets, Barkley vowed that the Warriors would sweep the Rockets 4-0. However, in just two days, the Rockets' players punched the "big mouth" star in the face, and they beat the Warriors 127-105 at home, drawing the score to a 1-1 draw, and the Rockets led by 29 points at the most in the whole game, thus giving the Warriors the worst defeat in the playoffs so far.
The performance of Harden and Paul is naturally key, and today the two combined to send 43 points, which looks similar to harden's score in the last game, but the effect is completely different. Back in the last game, the Rockets were obsessed with letting the light bulb single, Harden alone handed over 41 points, Paul also had 23 points in the account, but because the singles were too exhausting, resulting in a wave of warriors when Harden was not able to do enough in the third quarter. In the whole game, Harden alone has dribbled 550 times, and the Warriors Durant, Curry and Thompson have only 549 times combined, which is enough to see how much the Rockets rely on Harden.
Today, D'Antoni finally realized that more players should participate in the offense, so role players have risen, Tucker, who scored only 1 point in the last game, scored 22 points in this game, and Ariza, who scored only 8 points and 2 boards, became an all-round warrior to send 19 points, 4 boards and 6 assists, the most important winner is probably Eric Gordon, round face Deng 8 of 15 shots, three-point 9 shots 6 to win the same team-high 27 points as Harden, the difference is that Gordon used a full 9 shots.
He played 4 minutes into the first quarter, and shortly after coming on the court, he faced Thompson with a three-pointer, followed by another three-pointer after a row of crotches, and the next round, facing Durant, Gordon shook him up with a fake move, causing a foul and then hitting two free throws. In just 2 minutes, Gordon alone played a wave of 8-0, and the Rockets also went from 13-16 to 23-18 leading by 5 points - this is the tone of the Rockets' all-game lead, and since then the Warriors have never surpassed.
In the crucial fourth quarter, when the Warriors narrowed their nearly 20-point gap to just 10 points, it was Gordon who stepped forward. He hit a three-pointer against Livingston in the arc, then singled last season's best defender, Green, and forced a three-pointer with little time and space — the Rockets' best 16 three-pointers in the game, and the point difference widened from 11 to 14.
You could say that Eric Gordon played his best game in the playoffs so far. In fact, Gordon's performance so far in the playoffs is really not good, averaging less than 13 points per game in the first two rounds, and the shooting rate has dropped to 35%, which is almost a judgment compared with the performance of 36% of the regular season's average of 18 points and three-point shooting. So long before the game against the Warriors, we said that the Rockets must find their form to win against Gordon, after all, the opponent is the almost impeccable Warriors, and it may only be a moment of slack effort, and they will play a wave of games.
Fortunately, Gordon did not disappoint, he can average 21 points per game in two games, second only to Durant and Harden in the two teams, just take today's game, Gordon's score is higher than the splash brothers combined, and the plus-minus value is the highest +29 in the whole team.
Say two more words. Probably only then will fans remember that Gordon was also a superstar embryo.
As the No. 7 pick of the 2008 Draft, Gordon is considered to be one of the best scorers in the outside of that rookie season, and he showed his excellent physical fitness and accurate projection ability in the rookie season. Averaging 22.3 points per game, the same year, Paul traded Gordon to the New Orleans Hornets, when the Hornets saw the potential that Gordon had, and the team management thought that in time, Gordon would inevitably become an All-Star-level shooting guard.
Unfortunately, no one thought that the 22-year-old would become The last peak of Gordon. Because of the continuous knee, ankle and shoulder injuries, Gordon's explosiveness and speed have seriously declined, so he has to transform more into an outside pitcher, not only that, the injury has caused him to miss too many games, once fell off the title of glassman, the Pelicans also gave up the three-point champion because of this, and Morey, who is good at fishing in the free market, was able to sign him with a four-year, 53 million contract - in the crazy offseason of 2016, this contract can be said to be the price of cabbage.
Gordon, who came to the Rockets, has also regained his position, as the team's most important substitute, he won the best sixth man last year, and this year he was also shortlisted for the best sixth man, and now in the playoffs, his stable performance will determine whether the Rockets can beat the powerful Warriors, after all, in addition to Paul and Harden, Gordon's ability to hold the ball and three points is also essential for the Rockets.
Of course, the Warriors will not let Gordon like this gordon go. They're still the dominant side, after all, they stole home field advantage in the first game, and so far, the Warriors haven't lost a single game at home in the playoffs. Coupled with the fact that the Rockets have never been able to find a way to limit Durant, the next game, they only have a greater chance to win with today's defensive efforts and feel, the Warriors are the Warriors after all, and the next game is their turn to respond.