Rockets Rising: The Next Era of Houston Rockets Basketball – Episode 29
Having dropped game three and now trailing in this series two games to one, the Rockets will have to do something they’ve only done once before. Win a playoff game in the Bay Area. Today is the day the Houston Rockets basically have to win a basketball game if they are going to have any hope of advancing to the NBA Finals. Houston must get this win here. It doesn’t matter. Home run. They must not go down 3-1. Durant. Yes. To Durant. 12 nothing start for the Warriors. And Mike Py. Ryan. The Rockets missed an opportunity in game three to get one in this series without Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler is back tonight. He will return to the Warriors starting lineup. First shot of the game, the flamingo for Shenu. Front rim, back rim, and in. They leave Draymond Green really wide open and he makes the three and then talks some trash to the Rockets bench as he works the other way. Interesting. You get a zone for the first possession, but I can turn over for a man Thompson who has been very shaky in his first playoff run. He’s got to be better. I know he’s just experiencing this for the first time, but the Rockets need more from him. Three, another complete game. And that’s now two in a row for Draymond Green. Green with the clear. He’ll come into the front court. He’ll direct traffic. He’ll find Pensky. The corner three is good. They’ve made three shots from that corner to start the game. The only time the Rockets franchise has won a playoff road game against the Warriors franchise was a 9592 win in game four of the 2018 Western Conference Finals. That pass too lively and picked off by Green as Jordan was cutting. Here’s Green all the way right at heart. Rockets head coach Mike Danton. Coach, what do you tell your team right now as they look to find a rhythm offensively? Well, you know, though we rided the ship a little bit toward the end, we just took a nice punch early. We got to just withstand it and play our game and get, you know, keep our intensity up. What a move and a foul. Eric Gordon skying. You lose tonight, you lose the series. You ain’t coming back from a 3-1 deficit. That’s obvious. Harden with the drive and stuff. A facial by James Harden going right at Draymond Green. And a lot of chatter out there following that shot. Oh. Oh. And the pass picked off. Harden gets it back to Paul. What a terrific play with the combination of Paul and a Hart. [Music] In their only playoff road win over the Warriors in 2018, the Rockets withtood a number of scoring runs and were able to pull off the victory and tie up the series thanks to the clutch shots from role players Trevor Arza and Eric Gordon. Here’s Gordon for three. A huge shot by Eric Gordon to make it a five-point lead for Houston. Couple of possibilities here. That can be a catch and shoot for a tie for Golden State. Or will Houston commit a ch a foul as Livingston in bounds. He has cur and that will do it. Had a look. Had a great look. Can’t get a better one from the best three-point shooter in the game in Curry. Right in front of the Rockets bench. So the Rockets even the series of two and two. I think what was the key to getting this one tonight? Uh playing our ass off. Uh they’re a really good team, man. Especially at home. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They started off 120. We kept fighting, kept fighting, kept telling the guys, you should win this game. Game four brought fury. The return of Jimmy Butler ignited the bay. But it was fire, not finesse, that marked the night. the chippiness started and I can tell you from being a player, you you you just got to mix it up. Ain’t no way he gets to do that. You lock arms if he don’t get in there. [Music] So, we’ll see what they decide here. Draymond just floors Amin Thompson and and then he got and then Curry kind of kick to the side of the face inadvertently and then Dylan Brooks well Curry saying something to Dylan Brooks. Dylan wanted the ball and Curry pushed him and Draymond gets a piece of Dylan’s jersey and there’s a push. There’s no punches thrown. No, give out some texts if you need be and and get back to the court playing basketball. There’s no punch. You see Stephen Adams backing up Quinton Post and Craig is circulating the internet. But 100 humans versus one gorilla. You’re taking Steven Adams in those hundreds. I had to throw it out there. Okay, I’m taking Steven Adams. Okay, I got to find a gorilla. He’s with me. I fully believe that Dylan and Steven could take on gor a pack of gorillas. And I don’t think you need a hundred of them. I’m taking one gorilla versus 100 guys. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. There’s 100 men versus one gorilla. Okay, Stephen and Dylan, I think, are a really good start. Three technical fouls have been assessed. A technical foul on Curry for taunting Brooks. Then during the dead ball action for Brooks engaging with Curry as well as Green during the same dead ball action. Therefore, there are two technical fouls on Golden State, one on Houston. Houston will shoot one free throw. And Draymond Green and Fred Van leader jawing. And it’s Moses Moody having to step in between the two. Well, Draymond’s been throwing elbows, okay, all game. We We’ve seen about four or five of them. For God’s sake, you want to win in the NBA, you got to make free throws. Fred is a world champion. He’s the leader. Go shoot the free throw, Fred. We know you want to get Jaylen going. He’s got to shoot those free throws in that situation. I mean, with no disrespect to him. A T on Curry, a T on Draymond Green, a T on Dylan Brooks play ball. Game tied at 36. Draymond Green out front. E on him. Poked it away. And then Draymond Green trying to get it back. Picked up the foul and then now he grabs a jersey of T with the shove. And more people have to be separated. Yeah, Craig. He’s kind of technical already. He gets another one out. Here’s the issue with Draymond. They don’t kick him out. It’s never the first T. It’s always the second that is almost impossible for him to pick up. Curry tangled with Dylan Brooks. Draymond clashed with Tari Een. Words, shves, whistles. This wasn’t chess. It was trench warfare. Do the right thing. You cannot be scared at Draymond Green if you are the officials. Here we go. After the loose ball foul is called, Green turns and uses left leg and pushes E’s face into the ground with force. This contact was deemed unnecessary. A flake and foul penalty one has been assessed on Draymond Green. After the flagrant foul, E’s push to Greens has been assessed a technical foul. Therefore, we shoot the technical foul first and East will shoot two for the flagrant foul penalty one. So E gets a T, but Green gets a flagrant one and gets to stay on the floor. misses the second and the Rockets are going to have the ball. 244 to play in what is increasingly becoming a very chippy game and series. Butler back from the rear end bruise. He’s got four points now to Curry into the lane. Put on the brakes. Gets he turns it over again. Rockets have three guys ahead in the pack. There goes Dylan Brooks. Fouled by Jimmy Butler from behind. Rockets have now missed five free throws in a half. Make it six. You got to make your free throws. Houston’s got no energy here. They’ve got to wake up. Wow. The run continues. All Golden State to begin this third quarter. The Rockets have yet to score. It’s 13 in a row now for the Warriors. They had one of those runs to start the game. Dylan starts it. Um and the younger guys like us, we just um we play with passion. So sometimes it ends up in um scuffles and um a not backing down mentality. But yeah, we definitely don’t back down from anybody. And I think teams um know that around the league that we don’t back down. 9 to2 is the Rockets run. This group after that horrible start to the quarter where Golden State outscored of 18 to1 has tied it up. The Rockets are down 10. That’s twice. They’ve come back from double digits in this game. Penski’s open from the slot. I don’t even want to I can’t even look at that. 12 more missed free throws by the Rockets. Fred Vanmple’s best shooting game of the series. Brandon Pachki’s been terrific. He’s five of eight for three. He’s got 21 points. Alfred Chinun has 21 as well to lead Houston in scoring. But the free throws, the free throws, the free throws. If you’re the Houston Rockets, you have to understand, you have to believe that you are the better team. If you stay disciplined, you do the little things and you make your free throws, you are going to be victorious in this ball game. Double big lineup has been excellent. Alpring has been on fire, but the Achilles heel as you know to Craig, what the free throw line so far. Offensive foul and turnover there. [Applause] [Music] Ten and that time a little bit of a straight line drive for Shinon on the front row. Papa Shingun was watching LP. He’s thinking about his pops right now. Let’s hope that he can bring this game home. Oh, Butler. Jimmy Butler. His first triple of the game. Got to get the ball to him sooner. Watch Jaylen Green on this spin. Oh, what a move. What a move to tie it up at 88. You can’t put them big on Stephen or Alpiece. So, somebody small is going to be guarding him. Curry. Here comes Curry. Now, you talked about and Vanessa’s already brought up, Steph Curry is a dangerous man, and you got to continue to try to give him twos as opposed to threes if you’re the Rockets. Thompson again down the lane. How did he How did he get it in? How How did he not come back down on the floor? Stay defending his spin move. He gets to the rim. Doesn’t drop, but it’s tapped in. Thompson at Draymond off the glass again. Nice [Applause] touch. Thompson crossover drive missed. Tap no rebound. Shingu in for spring as his season goes on. Watch this and catches Draymond up high. We talk about verticality. Now watch Curry. This is a play they worked on in shootound. He’s going to either try to set this screen or slip this and zip to the corner. There’s only two seconds on the possession. Pajki. Pajki into Curry. The ball fake. The reset. Got it. He’s coming to the corner. They walk. They walk through that all shoot around long. Pajki to Draymond to heal back inside of a wide open shimmy Butler. Look at this. Good verticality there. Well defended initially. See men goes down after that ball and then watch Draymond. I mean, he’s begging to be out of this game. And what’s he doing? They’re going to be out. Can help stepping through. How about the spike by Steven Hatams? [Music] Oh, Adam. He’s got five. Draymond’s got to be perfect here. Fredman leads. Another triple number seven [Applause] inside to Draymond to Butler cutting baseline. Well executed play by Golden State. Got to pick up Curry here. Heel steps left. And the Warriors have the lead again. The Hacka Adams worked. The Rockets have struggled since he’s come off the floor, but the hacko worked. It worked. The Rockets had the [Applause] momentum. Over the shoulder, Van Bleed for three. Van Bleed for three. It’s tied at 104. He’s got eight of them now. Van Vleet hit a tying triple in the final minutes. Pajki stands to be ready to help Curry. Now there’s Thompson. Finds Butler. Fumbled it initially. Has to shoot it. He got fouled. Now watch that leg kick out. And so Jimmy Butler, seven of seven at the free throw line tonight. 84% for his career. Two more. Butler returned with vengeance. 27 points repeatedly finishing with calm under pressure. Flutch at the line. Three for three for Jimmy Butler. Sang kept Houston alive with 31 and 10. At the elbow, drop step, blast, score. Warriors still by one. Now again, you got to watch Curry running off this inbounds. Back to Bunner. Stand off to Curry. Switched up by Tyson. Curry into the lane. Runs it under go. It’ll be killing it on the far side. Adams Smith got to get it in. They do now. Sho rockets looking for the win in on spin. Bounce go rebound. [Applause] 12 for 12. Rockets need a miracle. With just seconds left and no timeout remaining, Fred Van Lee would desperately sprint the length of the court to try to force overtime. Got it. No. 3-1 series lead for the Golden State Warriors. Warriors 109, Rockets 106. Through four games, the series has been everything promised. Old scars reopened. New heroes emerging. Golden State holds the edge, but Houston holds the fire. The Rockets return home. Young, bruised, but not yet ready to bow out. And it’s a good test for our young group, you know, to come back and um stay connected, stay together, and uh we need that Toyota Center rocking louder than ever. And we’re going to go out there and leave it all on the line, but we’re going home to get one. With their season on the line, one question remains. Will they fold or will they rise?
Legacy and Fire: Rockets vs Warriors Playoff War (Game 4 Recap) | Rockets Rising Ep 29
📌 What’s inside this episode:
— Game 4: A brutal war erupts — technicals, flagrants, and Jimmy Buckets’ clutch heroics
— Şengün shines, VanVleet nearly saves the day, but Golden State escapes with a 3–1 lead
🔥 This isn’t just basketball. This is legacy on the line.
Houston’s young core — Jalen Green, Alperen Şengün, Amen Thompson — now faces the biggest test of their careers: WIN OR GO HOME.
And they’re not backing down.
🎯 Can the Rockets rally from 3–1 down?
📅 Game 5 is back in Houston.
📽️ Watch this episode and feel every moment leading up to the next must-win clash.
Their season’s on the line.
The energy is different now.
Watch the full breakdown in Rockets Rising: Legacy and Fire 🎬
🟥 “This ain’t the regular season. This is war.”
Steph. Jimmy. Jalen. Şengün.
👉 Hit subscribe and turn on notifications to stay locked in for Game 5 and beyond. Next episode coming this weekend!
🛑 Don’t miss the drama. Don’t miss the rise.
The Rockets built all year for this.
But Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and the Warriors had other plans…
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