Jalen Green shot 8-for-18 from 3-point range en route to 38 points as the Houston Rockets evened their Western Conference first-round playoff series with a 109-94 win over the visiting Golden State Warriors in Game 2 on Wednesday.
Making the night more painful for the seventh-seeded Warriors was losing Jimmy Butler III to a pelvic contusion late in the first quarter. He missed the remainder of the game and was headed for an MRI exam.
“Jimmy always says he’s going to be fine,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “But, we have to wait and see with the MRI.”
Second-seeded Houston never trailed, building a lead of as many as 20 points in the second half and answering every Golden State rally effort.
Green came up big while snuffing out the Warriors’ comeback attempt in the third quarter, knocking down three of his 3-pointers in the period and scoring 15 points in the period. He was responsible for more than half of the Rockets’ trey total on the night, as Houston shot 15-for-40 from deep (37.5 percent).
“Houston played great,” said Kerr. “They were really physical. They came out with a lot of force defensively. … It was their night. They played a great game on both ends of the floor.”
The Rockets went 39-for-86 (45.3 percent) from the floor overall, but their shooting both inside the 3-point arc and beyond it improved dramatically from Sunday, when they fell 95-85 in Game 1.
Green turned around from a dismal 3-of-15 performance in the opener to buoy Houston in a critical win before the teams head to San Francisco for Game 3 on Saturday.
“That first game, the lights were bright, the crowd was here,” said Green. “The court looked huge. I couldn’t really settle in. My legs were a little shaky but that’s part of it. I went through it and feel like I did a good job of answering back.”
Golden State will await word on the status of Butler, a hero in the Game 1 win with 25 points. He played just 7:52 on Wednesday and scored three points.
Butler was inadvertently undercut by Rockets guard Amen Thompson on a rebound, when Thompson stumbled after jostling with Warriors forward Draymond Green.
Without the versatile Butler on the floor, Golden State relied heavily on its 3-point shooting and went 17-for-43 (39.5 percent) from long range. Coupled with a poor 11-of-18 effort at the free-throw line, Golden State could not muster enough offense.
Stephen Curry went 4-for-9 from beyond the arc en route to 20 points. Quinten Post shot 4-for-8 from 3-point distance coming off the bench and finished with 12 points. Moses Moody also had 12 points.
Houston got 17 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists from Alperen Sengun, plus 16 points from Dillon Brooks.
–Field Level Media
