Warriors undaunted entering Game 6

Star point guard Chris Paul suffered a hamstring injury in the final minutes of the 98-94 victory, and the Rockets have already announced that Paul will miss Saturday’s Game 6 at Oracle Arena.

The big question now is if the Warriors can carry over this offensive momentum from Game 6 into Game 7.

The Rockets were playing loose – “a little bit of a free swing”, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr called it, “Game 6 on the road, and they know they’ve got Game 7 in their back pocket at home” – and the Warriors were playing tight.

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 knot the best-of-7 series at 3-3 – and keep their bid to reach a 4th straight championship series alive.

But the Warriors closed the gap to 61-51 at halftime, then passed Houston before the end of the third quarter and pulled away early in the fourth.

Eric Gordon, a strong candidate to win the Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award, started in place of Paul and was a concern for the Warriors, drilling deep shots and scoring 19 points. He referenced the conference finals in 2016 when they fell behind Oklahoma City 3-1 before winning the next three to take the series.

Iguodala now has missed three consecutive games with a left lateral leg contusion. But he did address what it would mean to Golden State if he’s healthy enough to go on Saturday. According to Second Spectrum, on seven of his made 3-pointers, the ball was released within one second of touching it. “We just lost Paul but I’m hopeful that the Rockets can make it to the finals”, said Jose Garza. “Our guys have the ultimate confidence that we can get it done this time, too”. “And this is what we play for”.

Will Paul be able to go for the biggest game in the National Basketball Association this season, and the biggest game of his life? Golden State had exactly double (26) the amount of assists that Houston had (13). Houston committed four quick turnovers. The Golden State Warriors are averaging 109.6 points on 47.1 percent shooting and allowing 100.8 points on 42.8 percent shooting. What we did in that first half, that shows what we can do. Golden State was plagued by turnover problems once again in Game 5, with 18 turnovers leading to 18 Rockets points.

The Warriors are the toughest team the Rockets will face in the postseason.