Curry put on his chef’s hat and was cooking.
Stephen Curry scored a game-high 31 points, and the Golden State Warriors overcame a lopsided rebounding deficit to beat the Houston Rockets on the road in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series.
Curry was extremely efficient, making 12 of 19 shots, including five 3-pointers, in the 95-85 victory Sunday night in Houston. Warriors forward Jimmy Butler did a little bit of everything on both ends of the court, contributing 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals.
“Just the idea of what it was going to take to beat this particular team was just a grind-it-out type of performance that we had,” Curry said.
“Thankfully we got it done.”
The No. 7 Warriors outshot the second-seeded Rockets 47.4% to 39.1%. The Rockets were anemic from beyond the arc, making just 6 of 29 (20.7%) of their 3-point attempts, compared to the Warriors’ 12 of 32 (37.5%) clip.
The Rockets held a 52-36 advantage in rebounding, with 22 offensive boards, but that is easy to do when you are missing a ton of shots. The game featured just three lead changes and was tied once. The Warriors led by as many as 23 points. They were outscored 54-34 in the paint but held a 16-4 edge in fast-break points.
“At times, their best offense is offensive rebounds, they are elite at it,” Warriors forward Draymond Green told reporters. “That’s something we expected. We did a decent job in the first half, but in the second half it was way out of control.
“We’ve gotta do a better job there, but that is their style of play. They rough you up, they grab, they hold, they crash the boards. They are an extremely physical team.”
The Rockets got off to a good start, scoring the first seven points of the night and carried a 21-18 lead into the second quarter.
Embed from Getty Images
Curry and the Warriors then went on an 18-3 surge and never looked back. Curry scored 10 points in the quarter. The Warriors led by 13, 47-34, at halftime. It was like a 90s defensive battle.
The Rockets cleaned up the glass, outrebounded the Warriors 16-7 in the third quarter. They used that rebounding advantage to outscore their foes 26-22 in the frame but still trailed by nine to start the fourth quarter. The Warriors held a 26-25 scoring edge over the final 12 minutes of the game.
Curry grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists, in addition to his 31 points. Fellow Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski chipped in 14 points. Rockets center Alperen Sengun logged 26 points and nine rebounds in the loss.
The Rockets will host the Warriors in Game 2 of the best-of-seven series at 9:30 p.m. ET Wednesday in Houston. The series will shift to San Francisco on Saturday for Game 3 at Chase Center.
The winner of the Warriors-Rockets series will take on the No. 3 Los Angeles Lakers or No. 6 Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round. Game 2 of the Lakers-Timberwolves series will tip off at 10 p.m. Tuesday in Los Angeles.
