HOUSTON – James Harden scored 38 points and the Houston Rockets held on for a 112-108 win over the Golden State Warriors on Monday night (Tuesday in Manila) to even their Western Conference semifinals series at 2-2.
The Rockets were up by nine before the Golden State scored the next seven points, capped by a 3 from Stephen Curry, to get within 110-108 with 19 seconds left.
Harden made one of two free throws with 11.5 seconds left. Kevin Durant missed a 3 after that. But the Warriors got the rebound and Curry also missed a 3-point attempt before Golden State was forced to foul Chris Paul.
He made one of two free throws with 2.9 seconds left to secure the victory.
After losing the first two games of the series on the road, the Rockets head back to Golden State for Game 5 on Wednesday night with momentum on their side after their overtime win in Game 3 before Monday night’s victory.
The Warriors got 34 points from Kevin Durant, who had 46 in the Game 3 loss.
BUCKS 113, CELTICS 101
In Boston, Giannis Antetokounmpo had 39 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Bucks to a victory over the Celtics in Game 4 of their second-round playoff series and move Milwaukee within one win from its first trip to the Eastern Conference finals since 2001.
The Bucks have won three straight since losing the opener of the best-of-seven series at home.
They can eliminate the Celtics in Game 5 at home on Wednesday night and reach the East finals for the first time since the ’01 team of Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson fell to Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo in seven games.
One game after Antetokounmpo was two assists shy of a triple-double, he scored 17 points with seven rebounds in the fourth quarter to help the Bucks pull away. Reserves George Hill, who scored 15 points, and Pat Connaughton, who had nine points and 10 rebounds, again led the Bucks bench, which outscored Boston’s 32-7.
In what might be his last home game for the Celtics, Kyrie Irving scored 23 points with 10 assists. But he was 7 for 22 from the floor, including 1 for 7 from 3-point range; after leading all scorers with 26 points in Boston’s Game 1 blowout, he has made 19 of 62 shots and just 4 of 20 from 3-point range. (AP)
