The Golden State Warriors would benefit from three days of rest by toppling the Houston Rockets on the road on Friday night.
Following the Portland Trail Blazers’ Game 6 win to force a Game 7 against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, the impeding start of the long-awaited Western Conference Finals will have to wait until Tuesday, May 14, which would give the Warriors Saturday, Sunday and Monday to rest before they take the floor again:
With Portland forcing Denver to a Game 7, Western Conference Finals starts on Tuesday. Obvious implication. If Warriors can close out series tonight vs Rockets, they’ll get Saturday, Sunday and Monday to recover pic.twitter.com/1Nwi06Q7uI
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) May 10, 2019
This rest would prove vital, considering the starters have played very heavy minutes, especially with the inclusion of Andre Iguodala in Steve Kerr’s Hamptons Five lineup.
Players like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have constantly logged above 40 minutes in the series, as has Kevin Durant, who is out for the rest of this series after suffering a mild strain to his right calf in Game 5 of the series.
The advantage of a 3-2 lead puts the Warriors in position to close out this series before the weekend gets started, though it will prove a daunting task without their leading scorer for this postseason, as Golden State goes retro once again, but without the stout bench they once boasted in 2015-16.
If Golden State can muster that supreme effort to take out Houston on its home court, the Warriors will have the NBA version of miracle water — having one more day of rest than the team that comes out of the other series, along with a chance to get Durant back into the fold, as he’s set to be re-evaluated next week.
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