The Houston Rockets are in desperate need of some home court advantage. While the team has kept it competitive against the Golden State Warriors, they lost both games on the road. History is not in their favor which makes Game 3 essential. In the history of the NBA no team comes back from being three games in the hole. James Harden and Dwight Howard both had big games in Game 2, but questionable play calling at the end had them lose by one point. Now the pressure is on.
The Rockets tried to rally. Harden and Stephen Curry have been going head-to-head in these matchups, but so far Curry is getting the best of the MVP runner up. Houston was down at one point by 17 points in the second quarter, but they rallied to tie things up at halftime and keep it close in the remaining time. However, Harden failed to get a shot off as time expired while head coach Kevin McHale did not call a timeout. In the end, Houston lost.
The good news for Houston is Howard showed no signs of lingering issues following a knee injury in Game 2. The center went down after rolling into Josh Smith and hobbled the rest of the time. He was diagnosed with a knee sprain, but managed to finish with 19 points and 17 rebounds. That was a huge help as it was paired with Harden's 38 points and 10 rebounds, but not enough for the win.
Curry has been the start of the show in these playoffs. The shooter had 33 points in Game 2 which included five 3-point shots and six assists and three rebounds. Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green have been critical on defense keeping Smith and Harden as contained as possible. Golden State is undefeated against Houston this season and look to continue the success.
The Rockets have been in this position before. The team faced certain death against the Los Angeles Clippers as they were down 3-1 in the series. The team continued to chip away at the series and eventually won in Game 7 as the Clippers collapsed. That effort has given the Rockets plenty of confidence as they sit two games down.
Watch Rockets vs. Golden State Game 3 live stream, click here.