Fred VanVleet delivered 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists to keep the Houston Rockets’ season alive with a 115-107 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night at Chase Center.
Alperen Sengun added 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Steven Adams contributed 17 off the bench as Houston tied the series 3-3 and sent it back to Toyota Center for a decisive Game 7 on Sunday.
VanVleet opened the fourth quarter with a four-point play and a deep three-pointer, keying an 8-0 Rockets run that turned a two-point edge into a 101-89 advantage with under seven minutes left.
Golden State missed 13 consecutive shots during a fourth-quarter drought that lasted nearly seven minutes, finally broken by a Stephen Curry triple with 3:35 to play.
Curry finished with 29 points on 9-of-23 shooting, including 6-of-16 from deep, but the Warriors were outscored 29-23 in the final period and squandered a chance to close the series at home.
Jimmy Butler had 27 points, nine boards and eight assists, but his efforts weren’t enough as Golden State dropped its second straight after holding a 3-1 series lead earlier in the week.
Ime Udoka improved to 5-1 all-time in elimination games as a head coach, guiding Houston to its second consecutive high-scoring win after Game 5’s 131-116 blowout.
VanVleet shot 7-of-13 from the field and a perfect 9-of-9 from the line, continuing a scorching three-game stretch from beyond the arc, where he is 18-of-27 over that span.
Jalen Green contributed 12 points and a critical putback early in the fourth, while Amen Thompson chipped in 14 points, seven boards and two assists as the Rockets’ backcourt held its own against Curry and Gary Payton II.
Golden State’s decision to start Payton for defensive purposes in place of Brandin Podziemski could not contain Houston’s perimeter attack, which hit 12 of 30 three-pointers and outscored the Warriors 33-23 at the line.
Draymond Green finished with eight points and seven assists, passing Isiah Thomas for 15th all-time on the NBA playoff assists leaderboard with 992.
Green was also assessed a flagrant-1 foul for a first-quarter shove on Jalen Green, though tensions between the teams remained under control after two testy prior matchups.
