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Warriors eliminate Rockets, advance to 2nd round in breezy blowout

Few doubts remained over the Golden State Warriors' ability to defeat the Houston Rockets without Stephen Curry before Wednesday's Game 5 in Oakland. The presumptive back-to-back MVP played just 39 minutes while active for two games before spraining the MCL in his right knee before halftime of Game 4, and the Warriors have had little trouble handling the rudderless Rockets in all but one of their matchups this series. There are questions as to how far Golden State can go without the league's leading scorer, but Houston provided little resistance.

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In many ways, then, the Warriors' series-ending win in Game 5 was very predictable. Nevertheless, the extent of the devastation was perhaps not foreseen. Because the Warriors never really gave the Rockets a chance in a wire-to-wire 114-81 victory that looked headed for a blowout after just a few minutes. For those keeping score at home, the Warriors outscored the Rockets by 70 points in the six quarters after Curry went down in Game 4.

Houston ended its season as it lived it — with lackluster effort, no cohesiveness, and very little pride. Meanwhile, Golden State took care of business in less-than-ideal circumstances to give everyone a few days of rest before starting a Western Conference Semifinals series against either the Portland Trail Blazers or Los Angeles Clippers.

The Warriors announced their intention to end the series very early in Wednesday's matchup, starting with a tremendous sense of purpose that manifested itself in an overwhelming first-quarter offensive output. The stats tell a great deal of the story — they put up 37 points on 14-of-22 shooting from the field with 12 assists and just one turnover. Yet the success was much more than a product of hot shooting, because the Warriors shared the ball and made extra passes as a general rule in order to put the Rockets away early. Not surprisingly, Houston responded with little increase in their defensive intensity.

It's not a shock that the Rockets didn't defend effectively, because that's what they've done all season. But it was slightly more surprising to see the offense look remarkably disjointed even for a group with such little on-court chemistry. James Harden scored quite well in the first quarter to put up 18 points on 6-of-8 from the field, but his teammates combined to miss all 15 of their field goal attempts for two points (on Dwight Howard free throws, of all things). Bad luck certainly contributed to many of the misses, but it also felt like a perfectly fitting way for the last game of a massively disappointing season to end.

It's not terribly necessary to discuss the particulars of the rest of the game, because the Rockets pretty clearly weren't in any kind of mindset to come back. The Warriors cooled off and the non-Harden Rockets began to make some shots in the second quarter, but the general dynamics of the matchup did not change at all. Golden State led 59-37 at halftime and turned the second half into a big party as everyone played and no one saw more than Draymond Green's 31 minutes.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Warriors game if someone didn't make history. Klay Thompson was the man on Wednesday, scoring a team-high 27 points on 7-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc to become the first player in NBA history to make at least seven three-pointers in consecutive playoff games. Congratulations, Klay — you have a three-point record that Stephen Curry doesn't.

With the Warriors coasting to a win, the Rockets were left to consider the last moments of a lost season. Harden spent his time doing what he does best — scoring. His 35 points matched his best output of the series and helped keep Houston afloat when no one else could buy a bucket.

Then again, Harden committed seven turnovers that gave Golden State some key transition opportunities. As ever, the overall quality of his game depended on factors well beyond his scoring.

Fellow max-contract player Dwight Howard had a much more curious game. After a first half of missed lay-ups and late defensive challenges, Howard apparently requested to continue playing through the blowout and finished with 45 minutes played:

Don't worry, though, Howard still had time for some fun. Here's the three-pointer he hoisted up on the game's final possession:

Howard often gets criticism when he doesn't entirely deserve it and the game was obviously very over by this point, but it's probably not the best idea to fire up a goofy three-pointer if your whole plan is to prove you won't give up the fight. Don't expect many free-agent suitors to be swayed this summer.

Or maybe Dwight's just an artist, because this shot is the perfect finish to a Rockets season that started poorly and only got more disappointing from there. As soon-to-be unemployed J.B. Bickerstaff said in his post-game press conference, this team blew its opportunities all season. Winning one game in a playoff series without having to contend with the NBA MVP is just the fitting conclusion to it all:

The Warriors have accomplished a great deal this season, but the best thing they did on Wednesday was not moving onto the next round. It was ensuring that none of us will ever have to watch the 2015-16 Houston Rockets ever again.

Their reward is at least a few days off before the start of the Western Conference Semifinals. The Blazers' win over the injury devastated Clippers in Game 5 of their series Wednesday means that they are likely to clinch a series win at home in Friday's Game 6, which would set up a Game 1 at Oracle Arena on Sunday. It figures that the Warriors will be rooting for the Clippers both for the preferred matchup and because a full seven games would push the start of the semifinal back to Tuesday. With Curry out, they need all the rest they can get.

It's fair to assume that the Warriors will be ready whenever they begin the next round. They will face far more difficult opponents than the Rockets in the future, but this series still proved that they possess champion-level focus and resolve. If reports are accurate that Curry plans to test his knee next week, then it's very possible that they'll firmly reestablish themselves as overwhelming favorites quite soon. Golden State didn't have an ideal first round by any means, but they definitely showed that they're ready to defend their title.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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