The defending champion Golden State Warriors did not allow any surprises and won the seventh game against the Houston Rockets to travel to play their fourth consecutive NBA final with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Clash of giants.
Just as LeBron James' team overcame the Boston Celtics by a close 4-3 to win the Eastern Conference series, the same happened in the West with Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry's team against the Rockets.
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Houston, taking advantage of their home court and without Chris Paul, finished the first quarter ahead 24-19, thanks to 14 points from their star James Harden, the leading scorer of the regular season.
Harden was one of the highlights for Houston. (EFE)
The Rockets maintained their aggressiveness in the second quarter: they started that stretch with a 10-4 offensive run and after four minutes they already had an 11-point lead (34-23).
Despite Harden being slightly controlled in the second quarter - scoring only two points - the home team went to halftime with an 11-point lead (54-43).
The champions then started to apply pressure and began the third quarter with a 15-7 run to get within three points (61-58).
Curry, ball owner. (AFP)
With four and a half minutes left before the small break, Durant and Curry made three-pointers: the first to tie the game 61-61 and the second to take the lead for the first time 64-61.
The visitors pushed the accelerator in the third quarter, and at the end of that period, they already led 76-69, thanks to another basket from Durant, who ended the last minutes of the game with three out of four free throws to seal the champions' score and also stole the ball from Trevor Ariza in the last second to secure their spot in the grand final.
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With 34 points from Durant and another 27 from Curry, who also contributed with 10 assists, the Warriors now have the opportunity to defend their title won last year against the Cavs.
The first game will be next Thursday at 22:00 Argentina time at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, with the Golden State team having the home-court advantage.
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Repercussions
"The absence of Chris Paul prevented us from having that extra energy that was necessary to overcome a rival like the Warriors," highlighted Harden, who despite finishing the game with 32 points, the Rockets' leading scorer, once again failed in decisive moments and was not inspired in perimeter shooting: he missed 11 of 13. "What is clear is that in the end we didn't score the points we needed to win," he added.
On the winning side, shooting guard Klay Thompson, who finished with 19 points, acknowledged that the Warriors were able to impose their best game: "Despite being behind on the scoreboard in the first quarter, we were all convinced that we could come back like we did in the sixth." And he added: "We know our potential as a team and we know how far we can go."