Buddy Heald’s 33 points allowed the Golden State Warriors to knock out the Houston Rockets, and the Indiana Pacers confused the Cleveland Cavaliers with the opener of the second round of the Eastern Conference Series.
The Golden State Warriors punched tickets to the second round of the NBA playoffs and wielding two consecutive defeats to win a 103-89 Game 7 victory at the Houston Rocket.
The Warriors were the last team to advance to the ongoing conference semifinals on Sunday. The Indiana Pacers passed Cleveland, a 121-112 loss on the home floor in Game 1.
With the Warriors team stacked up in the postseason experience, Buddy Heald will play in his 11th playoff game – delving into nine 3-pointers on 11 attempts on the way to a game-high 33 points.
Stephen Curry scored 14 of 22 points in the fourth quarter, and the Warriors ultimately annoyed the second-seeded Rocket.
“A lot of resilience,” Curry said. “Everyone is stepping up. Everyone has been talking about our team, our run, our energy and more about the last two games.
“We blocked it all and realized there was 48 minutes to dig deeper, everyone contributed.
“Buddy Heald was incredible,” added Curry after the Warriors lined up their second clash with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The first basket of curry was 3 pointers, with the first half in 33.3 seconds.
However, Hield was on fire, making six three-pointers on his way to 22 points, and Draymond Green added 10 points to help the Warriors with a 51-39 half-time lead.
They pushed to a 15-man lead before Rocket fought, reducing the deficit to three.
Armentompson scored 24 points and nine rebounds, while Alperence Senggun scored 21 points on the Rockets’ 14 rebounds, while Houston scored just six pointers, chasing 70-62 in the fourth quarter.
That’s when the curry comes to life, opening the final frame with five straight points. Jimmy Butler scored six points on the 12-0 Warriors run, taking the lead with 2:31 minutes left.
Butler finished with 20 points, and Curry said his arrival from Miami in February was key to Golden State’s late playoff push.
“It means the world to build chemistry on the spot, build trust on the spot and perform as we did in Game 7,” Curry said.
“So the mission was accomplished – Step 1.”
The Pacers don’t shock 1 seeded cavities
In Cleveland, Andrew Nenbird has drilled five of Indiana’s 19 three-pointers for a team-high 23 points. Meanwhile, Tyrese Halliburton scored 22 points and handed out 13 assists for the Pacers.
“We thought we did an amazing job starting the game the right way,” said Halliburton, who delivered the game’s winner with a 119-118 overtime victory that won the Pacers’ first round playoff victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Pascal Siakam scored 10 of his 17 points in the first quarter as Indiana took a 36-25 lead.
The Pacers overcame a 33-point performance from Cavs star Donovan Mitchell and overcame their own 17 turnovers that led to 22 Cleveland points.
The sales helped Cleveland return from a 12-point deficit early in the third, taking a one-point lead with Evan Mobley’s hook shot with the remaining 3:16 minutes.
Mobley added 20 points and 10 rebounds, but the Cavaliers apparently missed All-Star point guard Darius Garland.
They couldn’t respond as Indiana put together a 15-4 scoring run to pull away again in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve got through the storm,” Halliburton said. “We stopped, we ran out and just played pacer basketball and did that.”
