HOUSTON – In the week leading up to Sunday’s first-round Western Conference playoff series opener between the Warriors and host Houston, much was made about how the Rockets had held Steph Curry to just three points on 1-of-10 shooting in their April 6 matchup.
Had the uber-athletic Rockets figured out the game’s greatest shooter? The answer ended up being a resounding ‘No’ in Golden State’s tight 95-85 victory.
When hounded by Amen Thompson and the same Houston wings that had vexed him at Chase Center, Curry schooled the young Rockets in the rematch en-route to 31 points.
He burned overplaying defenders on back-cuts, sank soft floaters over their bigs and nailed five high-arcing 3-pointers, including a jaw-dropping fadeaway from the corner midway through the third quarter.
But not even Curry at his incendiary best was enough to pull away from the Rockets, at least right away.
It took a late surge by Jimmy Butler, who scored seven of his 25 points in the final two minutes, to clinch the win.
Golden State led by as much as 23 midway through the third quarter, but Houston did not go quietly into the Texas night. A 7-0 run highlighted by a drifting Alperen Sengun triple as time expired kept Houston in the game.
Curry ended it with a pullup midrange jumper, but the Rockets continued to cut into the lead thanks to several big offensive rebounds by Steven Adams.
Houston grabbed 22 offensive rebounds to Golden State’s six, with those second, and sometimes third, chances keeping the home team in the game. The Warriors’ once formidable lead was cut to 69-60 at the end of the third quarter.
Curry pushed the lead back to 72-62 with another deep 3-pointer early in the fourth. After Houston answered and cut the lead to just four, Gary Payton II knifed inside for two layups to give Golden State breathing room with eight minutes remaining.
Houston answered right back with a Jabari Smith triple. Houston got the lead all the way down to 76-73 when Thompson made a midrange shot over Curry.
But the Warriors went on a 8-2 run to go up 84-75 and retake some level of control with 3:23 left.
Butler and Curry closed things out from there in a game that was just as gritty as the last showdown between the teams.
Golden State won the season series 3-2, but the Rockets smothered the Warriors 106-96 in the last matchup of the season.
It was a markedly different outcome compared to how the earlier game unfolded.
The Rockets played tight man-to-man on the Warriors’ star scorers, and had bigs Sengun and Adams park themselves in the paint while daring Golden State’s corner shooter to make them pay.
It was more of the same early on, as the Rocket bigs sagged way off Moses Moody and Gary Payton II.
The Warriors struggled to generate offense early, falling behind 19-12 before Curry began to find cracks in the Rockets defense. He made two layups late in the quarter to help Golden State pull to 21-18 after one period.
The teams battled it out in the second quarter as well, but Curry made two late 3-pointers and Butler canned a tough basket over Sengun to key a 9-0 half-ending run to put the Warriors up 47-34 at halftime.
Curry had 16 points at halftime.
The teams will play Game 2 on Wednesday night.
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