The Rockets are facing elimination after Wednesday night's Game 5 loss to the Golden State Warriors. Despite that fact, Houston head coach Mike D'Antoni is remaining confident in his team's chances to advance.
D'Antoni spoke with members of the media following Wednesday night's loss. He knows it's a do-or-die scenario, and he says the goal is to win at home in Game 6:
“Again, if we’re good enough, we can beat them,” D’Antoni told The Athletic. “If we’re not good enough, they’ll beat us. It’s a competition. We have our home court. It’s go take care of business there, then the series starts when you come back up here. Whoever wins that one will obviously be the winner.
“It is a do or die, but I feel good about it,” D'Antoni added. “I feel like we played good enough to win a couple games up here, just didn’t get it done. Keep the feeling, take care of business at home, come back up and try to get it.”
Whether or not the Rockets will be able to keep their playoffs hopes alive in Game 6 remains to be seen, but the odds-makers seem to be in their favor. In fact, according to a report from ESPN's David Purdum, the Warriors are 7.5-point underdogs for Friday's game.
Warriors, at +7.5, are the biggest underdogs they've been in the playoffs under Steve Kerr. h/t @SportsInsights
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) May 9, 2019
As he has been for much of this postseason, James Harden was Houston's leading scorer in Game 5. In 45 minutes of action, the Beard racked up 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field (3-of-9 from beyond the arc), eight assists, four rebounds, four steals and one block.
The Rockets and Warriors will meet for Game 6 on Friday night. Tip-off inside the Toyota Center is set for 9:00 p.m. ET, with ESPN having live broadcast coverage.
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