West Conf. Finals - Game 6: Houston Rockets 86-115 Golden State Warriors - 5 Talking Points

Fatigue and Turnovers cost Houston the game

Houston Rockets v Golden State Warriors - Game Six

We have already discussed the turnover problem the Houston Rockets had in Game 6. Them committing those mistakes is what kept the Warriors in the game.

The Rockets led by as many as 17 in the first half but could never keep it at that because they allowed the Dubs to hang around by turning the ball over - 5 in the first quarter (4 by James Harden), 6 in the second and third quarter each and then 4 in the final period.

Now, fatigue had nothing to do with the turnovers because the latter were occurring right from the tip but it's not difficult to understand why fatigue might have played a role in this loss. Key players on both teams were heavy 40+ minutes in the past two games and with Paul's injury, those were going to go even higher for the Rockets.

Not to mention, their short rotation. With Paul in Game 5, Houston predominantly relied on a 7-man rotation with Gordon and Gerald Green coming off the bench. So in Game 6, Mike D'Antoni was forced to play Mbah A Moute eight minutes to give at least some additional rest to his key guys.

Even with the game going to garbage time for the last 5 minutes or so, the three most important players for Houston played with hardly any time off - James Harden (40 of essentially 43 minutes of competitive basketball), Trevor Ariza (39 of 43) and PJ Tucker (37 of 43).