The Houston Rockets leveled the Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night by a margin of 95-92. The win for the Rockets was ugly, but it leveled the series at 2-2 heading back to Houston.
It was a close game down the stretch, and it looked like Golden State’s last chance to get the win was going to come on a possession with 11 seconds to go following a missed James Harden jumper.
The Warriors immediately turned up the floor and did not call a timeout. The resulting possession was messy, and it wound up ending on a difficult Klay Thompson turnaround jumper. Golden State would get another shot at a 3-pointer with half a second left thanks to a foul on Thompson’s miss, but many were still left wondering why Steve Kerr did not choose to call a timeout during the possession before.
Kerr addressed the decision after the game.
Via Twitter:
"I thought we would get a better shot in transition. That's why I let them play." - Steve Kerr on last shot#NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/iNChTKJ2Ei
— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 23, 2018
Warriors' Kevin Durant on his late pass to Klay Thompson: "I maybe should have waited until he set his feet... That's not the reason why we lost the game... I definitely wish I could have that last play back."
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) May 23, 2018
You sort of have to side with Kerr in principle, but if you’d seen the way the Warriors played the rest of that fourth quarter you would probably err on calling a timeout and letting them set something up. Curry was 1-of-8 in the fourth, Durant shot poorly most of the game, and Golden State scored 12 total points in the final period.
When you consider Curry got a look at a wide open 3-pointer in the corner with 0.5 seconds left on the clock when the Warriors did call a timeout on the next possession, it makes it look even worse.
In any case, Houston beat out Golden State in a close game and we’re headed back to Texas for Game 5 on Thursday.