{"id":829468,"date":"2025-05-05T11:20:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=829468"},"modified":"2025-05-05T15:10:28","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T19:10:28","slug":"dubs-advance-after-103-89-game-7-victory-over-the-houston-rockets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/news\/nba\/dubs-advance-after-103-89-game-7-victory-over-the-houston-rockets\/","title":{"rendered":"Dubs Advance after 103-89 Game 7 Victory over the Houston Rockets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>After six tight-knit games, the battle between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors finally boiled down to a Game 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Rockets had all the momentum, rattling off two consecutive wins after being down 3-1 in the series. Following a gritty Game 6 that saw the Rockets stave off elimination on Golden State&#8217;s home court, Draymond Green, set the message straight with a passionate speech for the deciding Game 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I wanted to come out and prove again just who I am\u2014with poise, but with the same fire, same tenacity. I think I delivered that and gave our guys something to follow,&#8221; Green said. &#8220;That was the message, that was the goal and we got it done.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the road, the Dubs came out firing with energy, even from the most unlikeliest of postseason heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Buddy Hield delivered a signature performance, draining nine triples on a 12-15 shooting night, posting a playoff career-high 33 points to lift the Warriors to a 103-89 win over the Rockets in Game 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BUDDY HIELD HAVE YOURSELF A NIGHT<br><br>\ud83d\udcfa <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBCSAuthentic?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@NBCSAuthentic<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/g8s8OtXG2e\">pic.twitter.com\/g8s8OtXG2e<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Golden State Warriors (@warriors) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/warriors\/status\/1919225412057514361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 5, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Stephen Curry finished with a double-double, posting 22 points and 10 rebounds after a shaky first half. Jimmy Butler added 20 points, while Green finished with 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amen Thompson led the Rockets with 24 points, while Alperen Sengun finished with a 21-point, 14-rebound double-double. Fred VanVleet finished with 17 points after a strong performance in Game 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dubs opened up the game hot, quickly cracking double-digit points three minutes into the game. Green continued his streak of delivering in Game 7&#8217;s, knocking down two threes while Brandin Podziemski added another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Rockets were able to battle back, forcing a 13-13 tie after efficient scoring in the paint from Sengun and Thompson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Later in the quarter, Jalen Green made an and-one layup to give Houston a 19-17 lead with just over a minute remaining in the opening frame. That two-point lead was Houston&#8217;s only lead for the entire game, lasting for 13 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hield quickly drained a triple on the ensuing possession to give the lead back to the Dubs. Houston played catch-up for the remainder of the game. To cap off the quarter, Hield launched from 42-feet out and sank a buzzer-beater from just beyond the half-court line to give Golden State a 23-19 lead at the end of the quarter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;When I shot it, I knew I had a chance. I didn&#8217;t know it was going in\u2014I knew I had a chance,&#8221; Hield said. &#8220;When that went in, that just helped me relax. I didn&#8217;t celebrate too much because I know we had three more quarters to go.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dubs carried the momentum from Hield&#8217;s half-court heave into the second quarter. They quickly opened up a double-digit lead with under three minutes in the quarter before rattling off a 12-8 run to close out the quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hield sank three triples on three consecutive possessions, before Curry scored his first points of the game with 33 seconds to play. Golden State rode that scoring run to a 12-point advantage at the half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">SIX splashes for Buddy in the first half.<br><br>Keep &#39;em coming\ud83d\udcaa <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yZc7sAjFnc\">pic.twitter.com\/yZc7sAjFnc<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Golden State Warriors (@warriors) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/warriors\/status\/1919208961460556080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 5, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Rockets battled back in the third quarter, consistently chipping away at the lead. After going on a 17-7 scoring run, Houston cut the lead to a one-possession game after Jabari Smith Jr. sank a three. However, the Rockets failed to tie the score up and take the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The three-point deficit would be the closest Houston got to overcoming the lead. Golden State closed out the quarter with two Green buckets and a Butler triple to take an eight-point lead into the final frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was all Golden State from there. Curry scored 14 points in the fourth quarter alone, and the Dubs outscored the Rockets 33-27 in the quarter. Hield made another three with eight minutes to play to give the Warriors a 10-point lead, and they never looked back. The Rockets failed to cut the deficit to single-digits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a fitting end, Golden State&#8217;s final bucket was a deep three by Hield, capping off his signature performance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The story of the game was Golden State&#8217;s offensive efficiency from beyond the arc. The Dubs shot 41.9% from three and drained 18 triples, while Houston struggled, only knocking down six threes. Houston also shot 40.5% from the field, but missed easy opportunities inside the paint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the series win, Golden State has now eliminated the Rockets from the playoffs for the fifth time since 2015. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Warriors will now match up against Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round. But for now, they&#8217;re going to enjoy their victory on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We were lucky to get out of this series,&#8221; Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. &#8220;I&#8217;m not talking about Minnesota right now, we&#8217;ll talk about them tomorrow. We&#8217;re just gonna enjoy the win tonight, spend the night and we&#8217;ll get ready for Minnesota tomorrow.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After six tight-knit games, the battle between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors finally boiled down to a Game 7. The Rockets had all the momentum, rattling off two consecutive wins after being down 3-1 in the series. Following a gritty Game 6 that saw the Rockets stave off elimination on Golden State&#8217;s home [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":543,"featured_media":829469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[116,107],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-829468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-houston-rockets"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/543"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829468"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":829475,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829468\/revisions\/829475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829468"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=829468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}