May 19, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) reacts after a basket against the Houston Rockets in the first half in game one of the Western Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

May 19, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) reacts after a basket against the Houston Rockets in the first half in game one of the Western Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The Golden State Warriors are one round away from the NBA Finals. In their way is the Houston Rockets who ousted the Los Angeles Clippers to join the Dubs. In what should be a high scoring series, the Warriors will host Game One and Two at the Oracle Arena. Look for the MVP to shine against his runner up, James Harden.  The Warriors received adequate rest after putting the Memphis Grizzlies away after 6 games while the Rockets received one day’s rest.

1st Quarter

Josh Smith was the first to score for either team and the Warriors had trouble finding the basket early on in the quarter. The Rockets got off to a 9-2 start after a couple easy baskets from Trevor Ariza and Dwight Howard. The refs were not letting them play and were calling a lot of fouls. It took about three minutes, but Klay Thompson finally got going. He hit seven straight points and Oracle Arena was alive again. Steph Curry wanted to join the party too, so he scored five points of his own and the Warriors now had a two point lead. The Rockets got a scare when Josh Smith rolled into Howard’s knees, but their reserves responded with an 11-2 run.  Players like Clint Capela and Terrence Jones gave the Rockets energy, which fueled the run. Curry came back to hit back to back triples, but the Rockers kept scoring the rock and the Houston role players were not afraid of the big moment. The Warriors faced a 31-24 deficit going into the second quarter

2nd Quarter

The Rockets continued to play well offensively and the Warriors were trying to catch up. Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala picked up the scoring slack and they found themselves down seven points with nine minutes left in the second quarter. The Rockets came back to score seven straight points and the lead was now up to 14. Oracle was shocked and the Rockets had all the momentum. Livingston hit four straight free throws and hit a bucket to get the lead back to 10. The arena was loud again and it felt like the Warriors had life. The Warriors then turned it up to another level. Everybody on the floor contributed. Livingston was the surprise as he kept playing well on both ends of the floor. Klay kept driving to the hole with ease. Those two brought the lead back down to four and Oracle was rocking. Harrison Barnes scored five points and Curry finished it off with a bucket to beat the buzzer. The Warriors now led 58-55 going into the break.

3rd Quarter

The scoring stalled to start the second half. It took about two minutes for either team to score a basket. Draymond Green was the first to score in the second half and Steph Curry took over and scored seven points by himself. Jason Terry of the Rockets tried his best to impersonate Curry and scored five points himself, so the Warriors only led by six. The trio of Harden, Ariza and Terry tried their best to tie the game, but the Warriors kept applying the pressure. They accomplished it by the four minute mark, the game was tied at 71 and the Rockets had some momentum. The Dubs responded with a 6-0 run and got a boost from players like Leandro Barbosa and Festus Ezeli. These two guys would not only hit buckets, but they got the crowd going. This was a good sign for the Warriors. If they want to win this series and win an NBA title, they need contributions from their role players. The Dubs lead 84-79 going into the final period.

4th Quarter

Another slow start for both teams to start the fourth quarter. Livingston added another bucket to give the Warriors a seven point lead. Capela and Brewer each hit a shot to cut the lead to three, but back to back baskets to get the lead up to five. Harden hit three straight shots to cut the lead to one and the Oracle crowd was a little quieter. This was now a heavyweight fight. One team scored and the other one responded. For the Rockets it was Josh Smith and James Harden and for the Warriors it was Curry, Thompson and Barnes. Harden had 10 fourth quarter points and this game looked like it was coming down to the wire. That was until the Warriors exploded on both ends of the court and went on a 9-0 run. With about two minutes left in the game, the Warriors had an 11 point lead. The Rockers were relentless and fought back to cut the lead to five. An Ariza steal and triple cut the lead to two, so it gave the crowd a scare. However, Curry hit some clutch free throws and the Warriors held on to win Game 1. 

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