The Golden State Warriors had already survived Game 2 of their first-round Western Conference series against the Houston Rockets without Steph Curry. They were once again without the soon-to-be two-time NBA MVP, but this time around, they weren’t as fortunate.
The Warriors appeared to be in decent shape, even if only for a second. Trevor Ariza was inbounding the ball for the Rockets with 14.4 seconds remaining in the contest, when Shaun Livingston came away with a steal, which led to an Ian Clark layup.
James Harden then took the ball down the floor, no timeouts and 10.6 seconds remaining on the clock, and gave the Rockets the lead with 2.7 seconds remaining.
Rockets cap wild end-to-end sequence w/ James Harden game-winning jumper to take Game 3 vs. Warriors pic.twitter.com/3jBxNC9wfZ
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 22, 2016
That shot would be all that the Rockets needed to secure the Game 3 victory. It was not pretty by any means, but they were able to get it done. This promises at least a fifth game in this series, a game longer than most expected after watching the first two.
Despite the loss, the Warriors are still favored to win the series, and by a large amount:
Even with the loss tonight, ESPN’s BPI still gives Warriors a 97% chance to win the series. pic.twitter.com/3y4uL2oKxI
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 22, 2016
Now, the very best the Golden State Warriors can do is tie the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers with a 15-1 postseason run, although I’m sure they were certainly hoping to pocket one of those losses in a future series against the San Antonio Spurs or the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Surely, getting Steph Curry back in the future will help them out. They definitely could have used him Thursday night.
