HOUSTON -- The Houston Rockets made a big surprise by beating the Golden State Warriors 128-115 at the Toyota Center on Monday night, clinching another chance to continue their battle in the NBA Western Conference finals.
After losing three games in a row, the Rokects were pushed to the corners, and faced a "do or die" situation for Monday's game 4 wherein they had no other choice but let James Harden do the best.
The Rockets led 69-59 during the first half with a 10-point advantage, and kept the up-trend at the second half by scoring 59-56 against the Warriors.
Harden scored a playoff career-high 45 points for the Rockets, teammates Josh Smith and Dwight Howard added 20 points and 14 points respectively.
For the Warriors, the injured Stephen Curry had 23 points and teammate Klay Thompson finished with 24 points.
In the best of seven series, the Warriors take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals with Game 5 on Wednesday.
