By: Eric He

It was an emotional game, a chaotic game, one that saw the Warriors lose and then suddenly re-gain their leader, put up a valiant fight, only to lose in the end.

With a 128-115 win in Game 4 on Monday night, the Rockets stayed alive and forced a Game 5 back at Oracle Arena on Wednesday night.

Stephen Curry left the game in the second quarter with a head injury but returned in the third quarter after an entire nation’s worth of basketball fans held their collective breaths.

The Warriors cut a 15-point lead down to six in the fourth quarter on threes from Klay Thompson and Curry. But a 104-98 advantage for the Rockets quickly went back up to 13 on a 8-0 run by James Harden with 6:39 to play.

They never recovered, unable to cut the lead down to more than eight.

Harden finished with a game-high 45 points and was 7-of-11 from three-point range, making pivotal shots that stopped more than a few Golden State runs.

With 5:52 to play in the second quarter, Curry exited the game after falling hard contesting a layup attempt by Trevor Ariza. Curry fell hard on his head and stayed down for several minutes. He was diagnosed with a head contusion and did not return.

The Warriors were down 55-36 at the time of Curry’s departure, but surprisingly picked it up without their MVP. Thompson stepped up and knocked down jumper after jumper; a three by Leandro Barbosa cut the lead down to 61-51 with 3:16 to play.

Curry finished with 23 points, even with the injury. Thompson was the Warriors’ high scorer with 24 points.

Golden State trailed 69-59 at halftime.

They trimmed the lead into single digits several times during the third quarter, but the Rockets responded with a strong close to the quarter. A three by Harden put the Rockets up 90-71, and they led 99-84 heading into the fourth.

The Warriors got off to an abysmal start, allowing the Rockets to shoot 77.3 percent from the floor in the first quarter. Houston scored the game’s first 12 points as Josh Smith knocked down two three-pointers.

A dunk by Dwight Howard capped off a 19-3 start by the Rockets, and not even Curry’s three-point prowess could counteract Houston’s dream start.

The Rockets ended the first quarter on an 8-0 run to take a 45-22 lead after one.