It's win or go home time for the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Rockets find themselves down 3-1 to the Golden State Warriors in what has become an unusually chippy series. Draymond Green, Stephen Curry and Dillon Brooks all received technicals in a second-quarter Game 4 confrontation, while Green received a flagrant foul minutes later for pushing Tari Eason's face to the ground when the two went to the ground after an attempted steal from Eason. Eason also received a technical in the altercation.
The real story, however, was Jimmy Butler once again becoming «Playoff Jimmy.» Returning from injury, Butler led the Warriors with 27 points and grabbed the game-clinching rebound with four seconds remaining. Can he deliver another clutch performance tonight to end the Rockets' season?
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves are coming off a 116-113 win against the Lakers, powered by Anthony Edwards scoring 43 points. Minnesota was down 94-84 going into the fourth quarter, but it found a second gear defensively, limiting the Lakers to 19 points in the concluding frame. The Lakers have faded in the stretch in this series — they've been outscored in all four fourth quarters by a total of 105-69.
In Game 4, head coach JJ Redick used the same five players in the entire second half: LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith. According to Elias, entering Sunday, no team since 1997-98 made no substitutions in one half of a playoff game.
Can the Warriors and Timberwolves close things out? Follow along with all the live action right here.
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