The seventh-seeded Golden State Warriors overcame a poor first half offensively from Steph Curry, received a great and necessary offensive performance from Buddy Hield and took Game 7 on the road against the second-seeded Houston Rockets with a 103-89 victory Sunday.
The Warriors will play Minnesota in a Western Conference semifinal series. Game 1 is Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET, TNT).
Hield scored 22 of his playoff career-high 33 points in the first half and was 12-for-15 from the field and 9-for-11 on 3s. Curry finished with 22 points after scoring just three in the first half.
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In the first half, Hield was 8-for-9 shooting from the field, including 6-for-7 on 3s. That made up for Curry who missed his first five shots and didn’t score until he made a 3-pointer with 33.3 seconds left in the second quarter.
Golden State’s collective experience with Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and coach Steve Kerr outmaneuvered the Rockets. The heart of a champion continues to beat in the 2025 NBA playoffs.
A 12-0 Warriors run late in the fourth quarter extended their lead to 94-74, and Curry found enough offense in the final two quarters, including 14 in the fourth. He also added 10 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and two steals.
Green had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists, and Butler finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Golden State outscored Houston 54-18 on 3-pointers and shot 41.9% from that range.
Rockets forward Amen Thompson scored a team-high 24 points, and center Alperen Sengun had 21 points and 14 rebounds. But Jalen Green’s offensive issues continued with just eight points, and Dillon Brooks had eight points as the Rockets shot 40.5% from the field and 33.3% on 3s.
Both teams were up against Game 7 history.
The home team had won 113 of 152 Game 7s headed into Sunday’s Warriors-Rockets series finale. However, there has been a Game 7 road winner in the past eight NBA playoffs, including two Game 7 road winners in 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021.
Teams that led a best-of-seven series 3-1 won the series 279 of 292 times before Sunday’s game, and the Warriors avoided becoming the 14th team to lose a series after leading 3-1.
The Warriors became another road team to win Game 7, and it is also just the third time in the past 16 seasons that a seven seed has knocked off a two seed (San Antonio over Dallas in 2010 and the Los Angeles Lakers over Memphis in 2023).
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Warriors vs. Rockets Game 7: Buddy Hield superhero in Golden State win
