Houston Rockets: 3 takeaways from Game 6 vs. Warriors

3. Failure to land the knockout blow proves to be vital

Despite having the precious luxury of playing within their home confines in a win or go home scenario, the Rockets would fail to capitalize on the moment during critical moments of the contest that allowed Golden State the chance to stay within striking distance throughout the night.

In a series and game that would come down to doing all the little things right, Houston would fall short in their effort to corral timely loose rebounds — and take care of the basketball — during the opening moments of Game 6. They were also unable to make the necessary plays down the stretch at both ends of the floor to pull out the victory.

"“They just outplayed us,” Rockets guard Chris Paul said to reporters shortly after his night. “They played smarter than us. They made big plays when we didn’t. They just beat us. Their players made big time plays when they needed to. “Every time we had a chance to [push our lead] to ten or something like that, we’d make a turnover or [give up] an offensive rebound…they made the plays.”"

Houston, which committed an average of 13.3 turnovers during the regular season, committed nine out of their 15 turnovers in the opening half that led to nine fast-break points for Golden State. In addition to allowing 10 second-chance points through the first 24 minutes of the contest, Kevon Looney, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala would combine to haul in five out of seven offensive rebounds in the first half that would help the Warriors continue to hang around.

Although the majority of sports talk show pundits will look to cast the majority of the blame upon the Rockets two leading stars, Houston’s struggle to decisively land the knockout blow will likely prove to be the No. 1 thing that everyone within the organization ponders upon this offseason.

Particularly in a series where all six games were decided by six points or less, as their inability to show up in the most critical times of the game would prove to spell their unfortunate doom yet once again in front of their fans.