The Golden State Warriors, led by guard Stephen Curry, will try to eliminate the Houston Rockets, led by guard James Harden, in Game 6 of their best of seven NBA Western Conference Playoffs series on Friday, May 10, 2019 (5/10/19) at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The Warriors, who lead the series, 3-2, will be without injured forward Kevin Durant. Here’s what you need to know: Who: Warriors vs. Rockets What: Game 6, Western Conference Playoffs When: Friday, May 10, 2019 Where: Toyota Center, Houston Time: 9 p.m. EDT TV: ESPN Channel finder: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity,Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV, Dish, Hulu, fuboTV, Sling Livestream: WatchESPN Line: Rockets -7 BOTTOM LINE: The Golden State Warriors visit the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference second round with a 3-2 lead in the series. The Warriors won the previous matchup 104-99. Klay Thompson scored 27 points to help lead Golden State to the victory and James Harden scored 31 points in defeat for Houston. The Rockets are 31-10 on their home court. Houston averages 42.1 rebounds per game and is 25-2 when winning the rebound battle. The Warriors are 35-17 in conference play. Golden State averages 46.2 rebounds per game and is 33-7 when out-rebounding opponents. TOP PERFORMERS: Clint Capela leads the Rockets with 12.7 rebounds and averages 16.6 points. Harden has averaged 31.3 points and totaled 6.7 rebounds while shooting 41.4 percent over the last 10 games for Houston. Stephen Curry leads the Warriors averaging 27.3 points and has added 5.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. Kevin Durant has averaged 35.3 points and added 5.3 rebounds while shooting 52.1 percent over the last 10 games for Golden State. DURING THE PLAYOFFS: Warriors: Averaging 118.1 points, 43.6 rebounds, 28.5 assists, 7.0 steals and 5.6 blocks per game while shooting 48.6 percent from the field. Their opponents have averaged 112.2 points on 44.7 percent shooting. Rockets: Averaging 108.1 points, 43.2 rebounds, 18.0 assists, 8.5 steals and 5.5 blocks per game while shooting 44.1 percent from the field. Their opponents have averaged 104.1 points on 43.3 percent shooting. Rockets Injuries: Danuel House Jr.: day to day (toe). Warriors Injuries: DeMarcus Cousins: out (torn right quad), Damian Jones: out (torn left pectoral), Kevin Durant: day to day (calf). (The AP contributed to this report.)<doc-sep>If you’re in Houston tonight, please go to the Toyota Center. Or at least a bar nearby. The Rockets host the Warriors in a pivotal Game 6: Will Houston be eliminated from the playoffs, or can they take advantage of a depleted Golden State team and push it to seven games? Houston has been difficult to beat at home: They’ve won 13 straight games at the Toyota Center and have won seven of their last nine home games against the Warriors. Oddsmakers have opened the Rockets as 7 point favorites for Game 6. The game is at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN or NBA TV. The game can be also streamed via fuboTV, which you can try for free for seven days. What to Watch For Rockets: This is the definition of must-win for Houston. Last season, they were plagued with “What If?” when Chris Paul went down with an injury for Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals and they lost to a healthy Warriors team. Now, it is the Warriors that are without Kevin Durant, their leading scorer. “What If?” they don’t capitalize on this moment and force a Game 7? The whole team needs to step up. James Harden cannot be responsible for bringing the team back from any sort of double-digit deficit. Chris Capela and Chris Paul, we’re looking at you to have bounce-back games. Warriors: The Warriors lost Kevin Durant amid a run by the Rockets, but still managed to win the game thanks to the leadership of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Will they lead the team again, and be inspired to do it for KD? Or will the Rockets capitalize? on the absence of the Warriors’ leading scorer?<doc-sep>The Warriors continued the trend of home teams taking care of business this series with a five-point win over the Rockets to take a 3-2 series lead. Check below for updates from throughout the game. The Warriors are one win away from the Western Conference Finals after earning a five-point win over the Rockets in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead. After Kevin Durant suffered a strained right calf in the third quarter, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson stepped up in a big way to hold off a furious Rockets rally. If you missed any of the action, check below for updates from throughout Game 5… Final: Warriors 104, Rockets 99 (Golden State leads 3-2) Despite Kevin Durant leaving the game with a strained right calf, Golden State holds off a furious second-half rally from Houston to take a 3-2 series lead. After Durant exited the game, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson stepped up to the challenge to finish with 25 points and 27 points, respectively. Draymond Green finished the game with eight points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists before fouling out and Andre Iguodala added 11 points, five assists and four rebounds. Houston was led by 31 points, eight assists, four rebounds and four steals from James Harden and Eric Gordon's 19 points. PJ Tucker added 13 points while both Chris Paul and Iman Shumpert added 11 points apiece. The series now shifts to Houston where the Warriors have an opportunity to eliminate the Rockets at the Toyota Center for a second straight year. End of third quarter: Warriors 72, Rockets 72 After trailing by as many as 20 points, the Rockets outscore the Warriors 29-15 to tie things up heading into the final frame. James Harden leads the way for Houston with 26 points on the night while PJ Tucker has added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Clint Capela has scored just two points so far but has grabbed 13 rebounds (five offensive) to make his presence felt. Kevin Durant's 22 points pace Golden State, but he has exited the game with a strained right calf and will not return. Klay Thompson has 20 points in the game while Stephen Curry has 13 points despite shooting just 6-for-16 from the field and 1-for-8 from beyond the arc. Halftime: Warriors 57, Rockets 43 It's been a game of runs…mostly made by Golden State. The Warriors used a 17-0 run in the second quarter to get their lead out to 20 points but the Rockets responded with a 6-0 run to close the half with a more manageable deficit. Kevin Durant leads all scorers with 20 points while Klay Thompson has scored 17 points in the first half. KD's 20 PTS & Klay's 17 PTS keep the Warriors 🆙 by 14 after one half in the Bay! 💦#StrengthInNumbers#NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/cQPedXDoe9 - NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 9, 2019 Draymond Green has scored just three points but now has nine rebounds and nine assists for the game. Stephen Curry has struggled to get going as he is 2-for-8 from the field and has just five points ahead of the break. Houston's offence has been paced by James Harden, who has scored 14 points (on 5-for-7 shooting) while PJ Tucker, Chris Paul and Nenê have each scored six points apiece. The Rockets are shooting just 14-for-38 (36.8%) from the field and 5-for-22 (22.7%) from beyond the arc while the Warriors are 22-for-47 (46.8%) from the field and 7-for-20 (35.0%) from 3-point range. End of first quarter: Warriors 31, Rockets 17 One quarter is in the books and Golden State has built a 14-point lead early on. Led by 12 points from Klay Thompson and eight points from Kevin Durant, the Warriors are shooting 13-for-25 from the field so far. Draymond Green has dished out eight of the team's 11 assists to get things going, meaning 11 of Golden State's 13 buckets have been assisted on. The Rockets have had a rough start, shooting 5-for-17 (29.4) from the field and are led by seven points from James Harden who has yet to miss a shot. Golden State has dominate on the inside and in transition, scoring 16 points in the paint to Houston's four and seven fastbreak points while Houston has scored none. Pregame Houston will roll with a starting lineup of Chris Paul, James Harden, Eric Gordon, PJ Tucker and Clint Capela. Golden State again goes with a starting unit of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala.<doc-sep>While fandom is a key aspect of sports, it has two sides. Rooting against a team can be just as much fun -- and sometimes more -- than rooting for one. Like many NBA fans outside the Bay Area, I've been rooting against the Warriors. Not because I don't like them, but because one of the significant parts of sports is seeing the underdog topple the favorite, and in the NBA, where the better team advances far more often than not, the chance to see it happen is even rarer. But if the Rockets do beat Golden State tonight, and then beat them in Game 7, it's going to feel hollow. The Kevin Durant calf injury will loom over the series as an asterisk for all time. "Houston won, but they wouldn't have won without Kevin Durant getting hurt," they'll say. Sure, those same people would ignore that Houston may have beaten Golden State last year if Chris Paul hadn't suffered an injury of his own, but it's beside the point. Durant's injury changes a lot of things, and while it's a relief that it wasn't as serious as it seemed at the time -- in hindsight, Reggie Miller being so convinced it was an Achilles should have been the only indication we needed to know it wasn't -- it takes something away from this series, which is too bad. Ironically enough, now I'm rooting a bit for the Warriors. I'd like to see them overcome the loss of Durant against another great team, and further prove they're one of the greatest teams of all time. But will I be rooting for them tonight? All odds via Westgate. 1. Golden State Warriors at Houston Rockets: Rockets -7 There's a large part of me that hates making this play because it feels like a square play, but it turns out it isn't. The spread opened with Houston favored by 5.5, but the line has grown to 7 despite the fact that 60 percent of the money has been bet on the Warriors as I write this. Simply put, the Warriors were able to hold off the Rockets without Durant at home thanks to the energy of their home crowd. On the road, without Durant, with Stephen Curry still being bothered by his finger injury, and the Rockets with their backs against the wall, I think we're in line for Houston to win big. The SportsLine Projection Model has simulated this matchup 10,000 times and has come up with leans both against the spread and on the total, the latter of which cashes in 55 percent of simulations. Be sure to check out the computer's plays before locking in your picks. 2. James Harden: Over 39 points +124 To go along with the Rockets pick, I fully expect Harden to go off tonight. Harden made a lot of the "correct" basketball plays in Game 5 to help his team win the game, but it didn't work out in Houston's favor, and he just didn't score enough down the stretch himself. Tonight, with Houston facing elimination, I think he's getting at least 40. He's averaged 34.8 points per game in this series, and though he's only surpassed 40 points once, it was in Game 3 -- another game in Houston in which the Rockets simply couldn't afford to lose, and he stepped up with 41 points. He'll do it again tonight. Switching gears, UFC 237 is on tap for Saturday, and before locking in your picks, you'll want to see what SportsLine MMA expert Kyle Marley has to say. $100 bettors who have followed Marley the past year are up more than $21,000. Seriously. After going 11-1 at UFC Fight Night 151, Marley has locked in his plays for UFC 237. See them all at SportsLine. 3. Cincinnati Reds at San Francisco Giants: Giants +132 Luis Castillo is starting for the Reds tonight, and he's been a revelation for Cincinnati. Through eight starts he has an ERA of 1.97 and is striking out 30.3 percent of the hitters he's facing. Still, as good as he's been, odds are he's going to regress a bit at some point. Plus, the Reds aren't that good of a team! They're only 16-22 this season, and that includes a record of 7-14 on the road. There's no way they should be this large a favorite in San Francisco. SportsLine data scientist Stephen Oh is on a 43-25 heater with his MLB picks, and he's also slotting this matchup in his Friday best bets. Which side is he taking, and which other two picks join his Reds-Giants winner? Find that out only at SportsLine.<doc-sep>
The Golden State Warriors can officially move on to the Western Conference Finals for a fifth straight year. Only the Houston Rockets and an injury to Kevin Durant stand in their way. Game 6 of the second-round series between the Warriors and Rockets is set for Friday night at 9 p.m. EDT. ESPN will broadcast the potential clincher on TV. A live stream will be available with WatchESPN. Houston is expected to force a deciding Game 7. They’ll be at home, where they won two straight games against Golden State earlier this series. The Rockets are the healthy team this year, making them 7.5-point betting favorites over the visiting Warriors, according to OddsShark. Durant will miss the rest of the series with a mild calf strain. Golden State’s other stars stepped up in Durant’s absence in Game 5, despite having struggled for the majority of the series. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined to score 52 points in Wednesday’s victory. The Splash Brothers are only averaging a combined 39.6 points per game on close to 40 percent shooting against Houston. The star guards carried the Warriors for a little over a quarter in Game 5. Doing so for the entirety of Game 6 will be difficult, considering Golden State’s lack of depth. Durant leads the defending champs with 212 playoff minutes. James Harden has performed much better at home. The reigning MVP scored 41 points in Game 3 and 38 points in Game 4 at Toyota Center before disappearing in the fourth quarter of Game 5 at Oracle Arena. The Warriors have eliminated the Rockets from three of the last four postseasons. Photo: Sarah Stier/Getty Images