It took a valiant effort, but the Golden State Warriors successfully closed the series by defeating the Houston Rockets in Game 7.
As a result, the Warriors advance to the Western Conference semifinals and will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the NBA Playoffs.
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It was a game that looked right out of the 1990s with a final score of 103-89.
Draymond Green takes shot at Rockets player
While Stephen Curry finished with a respectable 22 points, it took him a while to get going, with 19 coming in the second half.
Instead, it was Buddy Hield who carried the load offensively. It was a performance that reminded Warriors fans of former shooting guard Klay Thompson’s ability to swing a game single-handedly with a hot shooting night.
Hield shot 9-for-11 from three and finished with a game-high 33 points.
Following the win, Draymond Green, who scored 16 points, took to X to take a shot at Rockets forward Tari Eason, who had words for the Warriors earlier in the series.
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“Spoiled milk,” the post read.
Eason finished with just five points on 2-of-6 shooting in the Game 7 loss.
His scoring numbers were down from the 12 points per game he averaged in the regular season, as he scored over 10 points only once in the series.
The Warriors won’t have much time to rest, as they’ll quickly turn around and head to Minnesota for Game 1 on Tuesday night.
The second round matchup features the shortest betting odds of any of the remaining playoff series.
Oddsmakers peg the Warriors as +150 underdogs, an implied probability of 40% to win the series and advance to the Western Conference Finals.
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Fortunately, the Warriors won the regular season series against the Timberwolves 3-1.
Golden State will also be able to throw new looks that the Timberwolves haven’t seen, as all of their previous matchups were before the trade that brought in Jimmy Butler.