HOUSTON — Jalen Green, who starred at Fresno’s San Joaquin Memorial High School, made two free throws with 3.5 seconds left and the Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors 91-90 on Wednesday night to advance to the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas.

Houston snapped a 15-game skid against the Warriors, winning for the first time in the series since Feb. 20, 2020. The Rockets will face Oklahoma City, which beat Dallas in the other West quarterfinal game on Tuesday night, in the semifinals on Saturday.

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While Houston heads to Las Vegas this weekend, the Warriors will return to regular-season play Sunday at Dallas.

Kerr Rants About Officiating

Houston trailed by six with about 1 1/2 minutes left before Fred VanVleet made a 3-pointer and Alperen Sengun added a layup with 27 seconds to go to cut the lead to one.

Stephen Curry missed a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left and Gary Payton II grabbed the rebound, but Green intercepted his pass and was fouled by Jonathan Kuminga to set up the winning free throws.

“That is unconscionable,” Kerr said of the foul call against Kuminga. “I mean, I don’t even understand what just happened.”

Kerr thought it should have either been a jump ball or the Rockets should have been given the timeout they were attempting to call.

“Our guys battled back, played their (expletives) off and deserved to win that game or at least have a chance for one stop at the end to finish the game,” he said. “And that was taken from us by a call that I don’t think an elementary school referee would have made. Because that guy would have had feel and said: ‘You know what I’m not going to decide a game on a loose ball 80 feet from the basket. ‘ ”

Crew chief Billy Kennedy was asked by a pool reporter why the foul was called.

“The defender makes contact with the neck and shoulder area, warranting a personal foul to be called,” Kennedy said.

Kerr ranted for about two minutes about the officiating after the game and complained about what he believed was a clear foul on Curry that wasn’t called earlier.

Blocked Shot Seals Win for Rockets

The Warriors had a chance to win it at the buzzer but Jabari Smith Jr. blocked Brandin Podziemski’s 3-point attempt.

Sengun led the Rockets with 26 points and 11 rebounds and Smith added 15 points.

Houston led by 14 before falling behind late to set up the thrilling finish.

Houston trailed by six with about 1 1/2 minutes left before Fred VanVleet made a 3-pointer and Sengun added a layup with 27 seconds to go to cut the lead to one.

Takeaways

Warriors: Golden State beat the Rockets twice this season without Curry before losing Wednesday in a game where he had 19 points.

Rockets: This young team showed poise in finishing this one after squandering a double-digit lead.

Key Moment

Green’s hustle on getting the ball late to draw the foul to set up the winning free throws.

Key Stat

Houston won despite making just 6 of 27 3-pointers.