The Golden State have booked their spot in the Western Conference Finals by defeating the Houston Rockets on the road in an epic Game 6 duel that went down to the wire. The Golden State Warriors are heading back to the Western Conference Finals after taking care of business against the Houston Rockets. Houston threw it all at the Warriors and looked like they were on their way to forcing the series into a deciding Game 7, but then Steph Curry came to life. An incredible final quarter from the duel MVP winner saw the home crowd left in stunned silence as the Warriors emerged victorious. If you missed any of the Game 6 action, we've got you covered below… Warriors 118, Rockets 113 (Warriors advance 4-2) Final: Warriors 118, Rockets 113 Stephen Curry was far from his MVP best through the first three quarters of the pivotal Game 6, but when it mattered most he came to life. Curry scored 23 of his 33 points in the fourth as he led the Warriors to the series deciding victory on the road. Along with Curry's hot hand, Klay Thompson was on fire from beyond the arc as the duo combined for 60 points. Steph (33 PTS) & Klay (27 PTS & 7 3PM) went to Houston and took care of business to take the series 4-2 over the Rockets! 🔒👌#StrengthInNumbers #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/DcF7TiGgj4 - NBA TV (@NBATV) May 11, 2019 James Harden threw everything he had at the Warriors, but in the end the relentless firepower from Curry was too much to overcome. Third Quarter: Rockets 87, Warriors 82 The third quarter belonged to Chris Paul as the Rockets point guard poured in 10 of his 21 points to hand Houston the lead heading into the final quarter. Klay Thompson continued his hot shooting from deep by knocking down his sixth in the term as Steph Curry's shooting woes continued. Second quarter: Rockets 57, Warriors 57 Back and forth we go in what is turning into an epic Game 6 battle. It was James Harden who lit it up in the opening quarter, but it was Klay Thompson who was on fire in the second. Thompson buried four threes and goes into the main break with 21 points to his name. James Harden leads the Rockets with 19. 21 PTS for Klay Thompson, 19 PTS for James Harden, and we're all tied at the break!#StrengthInNumbers 57#RunAsOne 57#NBAPlayoffs on @ESPNNBA pic.twitter.com/nnIjkBL0Ql - NBA (@NBA) May 11, 2019 With no Kevin Durant, the Warriors were hopeful Steph Curry would find his shooting touch. But Curry endured a tough opening half with zero points on 0-5 shooting and picking up 3 fouls. First Quarter: Rockets 28, Warriors 27 Foul trouble saw Steph Curry go to the bench less than halfway through the opening quarter after picking up his second. The Warriors offense looked stagnant at times in the halfcourt while the Rockets couldn't find the right touch. Houston got to the line 10 times in the opening quarter with James Harden leading the way with 14 points. James Harden pulls up for three and has 14 1st quarter PTS! #NBAPlayoffs #RunAsOne 23#StrengthInNumbers 23 📺: @ESPNNBA - NBA (@NBA) May 11, 2019 Pregame Stephen Curry laces up his kicks and gets loose prior to Game 6 Steph Curry laces up the "Splash Party" UA Curry 1 in Houston! #NBAKicks pic.twitter.com/hhIb84h7oG - NBA KICKS (@NBAKicks) May 10, 2019 The last eight meetings between the Warriors and Rockets have been decided by a total of one point in favor of Golden State. The teams have split those games 4-4 with no game decided by more than six points.<doc-sep>Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson has been known to have some big Game 6 performances in the playoffs, and he continued the trend on Friday night against the Houston Rockets. As the Warriors looked to close out the Rockets on their home floor, Thompson was a one-man wrecking crew on offense as the teams entered the locker rooms at halftime tied at 57-57. Launching early and often, Thompson scored 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting, including 5-for-9 3-pointers in the first half. His performance was essential because Stephen Curry, expected to carry a bigger offensive load with Kevin Durant out of the lineup, was held scoreless in the first half -- that's right, zero points. Curry was mired in foul trouble and never found his rhythm in 12 first-half minutes, shooting 0-for-5 from the field, which made Thompson's big half all the more important. The Warriors also got contributions from up and down the roster, with Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney scoring eight points apiece in the first half. Thompson may have kept the Warriors alive, but they'll need Curry to get going if they're going to close out the Rockets and avoid a Game 7 back in Oakland on Sunday.<doc-sep>It was the kind of loss you never get over. The Houston Rockets needed a win in Game 6 against the Golden State Warriors on Friday to extend their second-round series, and, despite Kevin Durant being sidelined with a strained calf, despite Stephen Curry going scoreless in the first half, despite their star backcourt of James Harden and Chris Paul combining for 62 points on 22-for-44 shooting, they didn't get it done. The Rockets led by double-digits at halftime of Game 7 of last year's conference finals against the Warriors and missed 27 straight 3-pointers, but, somehow, this was worse. "I'm definitely not going to get over it in this press conference or tomorrow or the next day," a despondent Mike D'Antoni said after the 118-113 defeat. "This one hurts. We didn't play our best. To beat these guys, you gotta play your best. It's almost like in a boxing match, you gotta knock the champion out. And we couldn't, we didn't knock them out." The Rockets can't chalk this up to untimely misses. They went 17 for 39 from 3-point range, their best mark of the playoffs, and had an offensive rating of 115.3, which would lead the league if sustained over a full season. They lost because they couldn't take care of the ball. They lost because they allowed the defending champions to hang around. They lost because, thanks to their defensive mistakes, Golden State had its best offensive game of the series on a night in which it played reserves Quinn Cook, Alfonzo McKinnie, Jordan Bell and Kevon Looney at the same time. "You cannot relax on defense for one second," D'Antoni said. You cannot forget to box out one second. You've gotta be a champion to beat a champion. I just thought there was too many times that we had a miscommunication, we relaxed a little bit or we weren't really 100 percent sharp. We were playing hard and trying to do it, but with them, you cannot make a mental mistake. Not for a second. Or it's going to be three points. And they got us a few times." One of the 3s he alluded to was the dagger: Klay Thompson's 28-foot bomb with 36 seconds on the clock. It gave the Warriors a 110-104 lead, and while it was by no means an easy shot, it was one Houston shouldn't have allowed. Paul could have left Andre Iguodala alone in the corner, but stunted at him rather than staying attached to one of the greatest shooters of all-time. "I made a false step towards Iguodala," Paul said, "and that's all he need, you know what I mean? Klay is tough." The Rockets called timeout after that, and, in a desperate situation, Gerald Green had his 3-pointer blocked by Looney. This was not Green's most inexplicable field goal attempt of the fourth quarter, however: Early in the period, P.J. Tucker passed up an open 3 on a fast break in favor of slowing things down. Tucker handed the ball off to Green, who drove into traffic and missed a wild fadeaway over two defenders from about nine feet out. Iguodala hit a 3 on the next possession. There were self-inflicted wounds all night, starting with four turnovers in the first five minutes. The Warriors were within one point at the end of the first quarter largely because they had four offensive rebounds, which all directly led to easy baskets or free throws. Throughout, when Houston played disciplined defense, it was able to put them in uncomfortable positions. Too often, though, it could not stay connected for a full 24 seconds. This was particularly evident late in the game, with Golden State running Curry-Green side pick-and-rolls over and over again. "We just gotta play smarter," Paul said. To the Warriors' credit, their entire game plan is designed to make opponents look dumb. When Curry and Thompson are sprinting all over the court, using screens and launching 3s, it takes a significant amount of mental and physical energy to stay with them. Golden State wants to confuse opponents with ball and player movement, and, without Durant, there is naturally a greater emphasis on that. The Warriors played with the gusto you'd expect from a shorthanded squad, trying to push the ball at every opportunity and manufacture points however they could. Curry and Thompson made incredible shots in crunch time, but they wouldn't have been in position to do that if the Rockets hadn't been so disappointingly sloppy before that. Houston waited almost a year for another chance to take down the champs. It remade the roster in the summer and again midseason and seemed equipped to do it until it didn't. All six games in the series were decided by five points or fewer, and the NBA will be lucky if the Finals are as tense as this. There is no excuse, however, for failing to capitalize on Durant's absence. The Rockets had the best opportunity they could have possibly asked for, a shot as clear as any of those 27 3s from last year, and they blew it. Now they have to live with that.<doc-sep>
Despite all odds being stacked against them, the Golden State Warriors eliminated the Houston Rockets in Game 6 with a 118-113 victory. With the Warriors missing Kevin Durant due to a calf strain and Golden State playing on the road at the Toyota Center, the defending champions relied on a huge first-half performance from Klay Thompson (21 points in the first half), a clutch fourth quarter from Stephen Curry and a surprising performance from the team's bench to eliminate their Western Conference rivals. Curry led the way with 33 points while Thompson finished the night with 27 points. Golden State will now face the winner of Game 7 between the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals. Here are some major takeaways from Golden State's victory: The old Warriors This is no disrespect to Kevin Durant, who is, at this point, pretty indisputably the best player in the NBA. But my goodness are the old Warriors something to behold. They are not perfect. They turn the ball over. They make stupid plays and get in foul trouble. But have you ever seen a team that fights like this? A few days after Kyrie Irving and the Celtics showed us what it looks like to wither up and die when the going gets tough, the Warriors reminded everyone what the heart of a champion actually looks like. Given the circumstances -- the Durant absence, Curry being held scoreless in the first half, the foul trouble, on the road -- this might very well be the most impressive victory throughout this entire five-year run. Just absolutely incredible. "Not going to swear tonight. They're giants. They're champions. These guys are a historically good basketball team," head coach Steve Kerr said of his Warriors after the Game 6 win. "You do not do what these guys have done without an incredible combination of talent and character." Stephen Curry is a god Curry has never struggled with his shot like this. For five games against Houston he was shooting 26 percent from 3. He went 0-for-5 in the first half and was held scoreless. He looked awful. That is not an overstatement. Full-blown awful. So what does he do? He comes out and scores 33 second-half points, including some monster shots in crunch time. Forget the otherworldly shooting ability -- this is what pure, unabashed confidence looks like. There might not be another player in the world who can go from shooting, and playing, that poorly to flat out dominating in the blink of an eye like he never missed a beat. Just remarkable, the willingness and self-belief to keep playing through those struggles at full speed, no hesitation, against relentless double-teams and traps, with the stakes that high and a world of criticism awaiting him if he didn't turn it around. Never doubt Steph Curry. Ever. Unless you want to look like a fool. "That game personified Steph Curry," Kerr said after the game. "He's just fearless. That's what makes him who he is." Can't say it better than that. Game 6 Klay Thompson Klay has a history of going off in Game 6s, and he did it again when the Warriors needed it most, finishing with with 27 points, but it was the 21 first-half points that were beyond huge. If Klay doesn't carry the Warriors in the first half while Curry was on the bench with three fouls and zero points, there are no heroics to be had at the end. It would've been over long before that. Never mind Klay's defense all night. He had some of the most impressive defensive possessions you will ever see in this game. This dude is such a battler it's hard to find the words for it. Unfazed by anything. Kudos to Chris Paul and James Harden Especially Paul, who finally had a vintage Chris Paul game with 27 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. He hit 3s. He got into the lane. He gave Harden, who finished with 35 points, the support he needed, and it just wasn't enough. This is as brutal a loss as Paul has ever suffered, and he's suffered some brutal ones. The Rockets did not lose this game, however. The Warriors won it. That's a big distinction that needs to be made. Recap of live updates CBS Sports was with you throughout Warriors vs. Rockets Game 6. Scroll through our LIVE blog if you missed anything.