No Risk, No Reward: Rockets Taking Necessary Gamble Matching Dubs' Blueprint

There are four teams left in the NBA Playoffs, and they’re pretty much the four people expected to see: The Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics in the East, and the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors in the West. Maybe some people thought Philadelphia would beat the Celtics before the playoffs started, but that was washed away as soon as Boston played a game and reminded everybody that even without Kyrie Irving, they are a phenomenally talented team with an excellent coach.

You could say the Houston Rockets did a good impression of the Golden State Warriors in Wednesday's 127-105 win. Or, more charitably, that the form Houston found in its series-evening victory was there all along, like a secondary set of programming instructions waiting for the "execute" command.

The Rockets registered 23 assists, their third-highest total of the playoffs and five more than they posted in Game 1.

GS Warriors vs. Houston Rockets
| Full Game Highlights | Game 1 | May 14, 2018 |

Houston’s Most Valuable Player candidate James Harden scored 27 points and Eric Gordon added 27 off the bench as five players scored in double figures for a Rockets team chastened by a 119-106 series-opening defeat on their home floor on Monday.
“Total team effort,” Harden said. “We played harder and smarter than game one. That was the only difference.”

The Rockets used a balanced offensive attack on Wednesday night to tie their Western Conference finals series with the Warriors, winning Game 2 by a final score of 127-105.

James Harden (27 points, 10 rebounds) was up to his usual tricks, but Eric Gordon (27 points), PJ Tucker (22 points) and Trevor Ariza (19 points) had a major impact in the victory. Kevin Durant finished with 38 points on 13-of-22 shooting, but Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson struggled, combining to go 10 of 30 (3 of 12 from 3-point range).

GS Warriors vs. Houston Rockets
| Full Game Highlights | Game 2 | May 16, 2018 |