Jalen Green made two free throws with 3.5 seconds remaining to give the Houston Rockets a 91-90 win over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday in an NBA Cup quarterfinal.
The Rockets ended a 15-game losing streak against the Warriors and moved on to the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas, where they will play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night.
Green got the ball after a foul on Jonathan Kuminga and made both free throws. After that, Brandin Podziemski’s 3-point attempt was blocked by Jabari Smith Jr. Earlier in the fourth quarter, Podziemski and Kuminga hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Golden State an 89-82 lead, their biggest of the game.
Alperen Sengun led the Rockets with 26 points and 11 rebounds. His layup with 27 seconds left cut the Warriors’ lead to 90-89. Smith added 15 points, and Green scored 12. The Rockets won despite shooting poorly from long range, hitting just 6 of 27 3-pointers, and turning the ball over 17 times.
Kuminga led the Warriors with 20 points and seven rebounds. Stephen Curry added 19 points and five assists. Golden State had 22 turnovers, which the Rockets turned into 30 points.
The Warriors gained momentum with a strong 32-point third quarter. Kuminga grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds and scored, then Curry made a basket through a foul to bring the Warriors within two points, 57-55. When Trayce Jackson-Davis made two free throws at 3:54, Golden State took its first lead since the first quarter, 60-59.
After hitting just 4 of 22 3-pointers in the first half, the Warriors made 4 of 8 from beyond the arc in the third. Buddy Hield scored 11 points in the period and made three 3-pointers, becoming the 17th player in NBA history to hit 2,000 career threes. The Warriors led 69-68 going into the final quarter.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter. After Dillon Brooks completed a three-point play to give the Rockets an 18-15 lead with 4:25 left, neither team scored until Curry hit a 3-pointer with 60 seconds remaining to tie the game. The Rockets held a 20-18 lead at the end of the quarter.
The Rockets built a 40-26 lead after Amen Thompson’s dunk with 4:14 left in the half, but the Warriors answered with an 11-2 run.
The Rockets led 44-37 at halftime, and the Warriors came back with their strong third-quarter performance.
