The Grip - WED 5.23.18

Finally, the narrative was wrong

May 23, 2018

5.23.18

Written while listening to DRAM’s Big Baby DRAM [

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No. 1 Houston vs. No. 2 Golden State

Game 1: Warriors 119, Rockets 106Game 2: Rockets 127, Warriors 105Game 3: Warriors 126, Rockets 85Game 4: Rockets 95, Warriors 92 [Box Score] [Highlights]Game 5: Warriors @ Rockets, Tomorrow, 9 PM EST, TNT

For once, Golden State went off script

Getty Images/The Grip illustration

It’s not often you get to pinpoint the exact spiritual moment a team’s season resurrects itself. We were blessed with that moment in game four last night. No more words. Just a gif:

Holllllllllllllllllllllllly cow. Here’s audio of Chris Webber’s dunked-on reaction.

As two NBA fans who are very tired of Draymond Green (sorry), that was deeply, deeply satisfying. Like your least favorite person being voted off of Survivor. Like waking up at 1 p.m. to cold pizza in the fridge. Like coming home from work and seeing your eBay package has arrived.

It was watching the high school bully get put in his place after this play that quickly became irrelevant, where Green dared Harden to shoot, and, for some reason, Harden chickened out. Also, almost as good, was that Green missed a point-blank jam later in the game.

But all this karma payback aside, the Rockets went into the third quarter up seven and left down 10, thanks in large part to a four minute Warriors run in the third that went:

Curry 3Curry 3Curry 3Paul 3Curry 2Thompson 3Durant 2

That sequence started with Houston up five and ended with them down eight. It was over from there, right?

WRONG! For one beautiful night the narrative was wrong and we finally got a close game and the Rockets came back from 12 down with 10:45 left in the fourth quarter despite Harden only scoring two points on four shots in the fourth and the Warriors lost at home in the playoffs for the first time since 2016’s game seven of the NBA Finals.

Harden continued his weird trend of freezing in important games, but his 24 in the first half and his thunderous dunk ignited an early run for the halftime lead.

The Warriors had a chance late, when Golden State got a stop down two with about 12 seconds left. Kevin Durant, who finished with 27 on 9-of-24, dished to Klay Thompson who faked and pumped for about five seconds before throwing up an air ball. Chris Paul was fouled, made 1-of-2, and Golden State had a chance to tie but Curry’s shot that didn’t release in time missed anyways.

For a quarter, it was as if the Warriors, who were playing without Andre Iguodala, turned into the Rockets without the polish, settling possession-after-possession for iso-threes.

They missed their final 12 from deep, including two by Curry and Thompson with a minute left down two. Up 12, at home, off a 34-17 third quarter, this one should have been a 20-point blowout.

But then something weird happened. The Rockets stopped acting like robots who malfunction when something goes wrong. And improbably, the series is tied. And Houston just needs to win one of two to host a seventh game at home.

And they did it with seven players -- only Eric Gordon (34 minutes) and Gerald Green (11 mins) played off the bench.

Eastern Conference

No. 2 Boston vs. No. 4 Cleveland

Game 1: Celtics 108, Cavaliers 83Game 2: Celtics 107, Cavaliers 94Game 3: Cavaliers 116, Celtics 86Game 4: Cavaliers 111, Celtics 012 [Box Score] [Highlights]Game 5: Cavaliers @ Celtics, Tonight, 8:30 PM EST, ESPN

We’ve reached the point in LeBron’s career when he can score 44 points on 17-of-28 shooting and the whole thing can be pretty boring.

Much like game three, the Cavs went up early and held on to tie the series, though the Celtics did pull within seven points late. But you got the feeling, once the Cavs pulled away, that they started trying jussssst enough to not completely blow it. Which is reason No. 12737 why everyone is sick of this team.

The question now for the Celtics heading back home for game five tonight is if their spirit was broken in Cleveland, if a frisky young team came down from a wild high to realize LeBron is too good for them.

Zach Lowe wrote a great piece on how sneaky important game fours are. If the Celtics won, the series would be effectively over, if the Cavs tied it up they’d have LeBron James in a three-game series.

Who knows if the Cavs role players will show up like they did at home -- it’s certainly doubtful that Kyle Korver will block Jaylen Brown three times. Who knows if the confidence and lack of caution will come back for the Celtics the way it jolted them in games one and two.  

What else happened?