Stephen Curry scored 26 of his 35 points in the second half and the Golden State Warriors crushed the Houston Rockets 126-85 on Sunday night to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA West final.
The 30-year-old point guard managed five baskets from downtown and added six rebounds. His team-mate Kevin Durant has 25 points, six rebounds and six assists while Draymond Green has 10 points, 17 rebounds and six assists.
The Warriors, who tightened their defense after being corrected 127-105 in the second game, beat an NBA record by winning a 16th consecutive home series game, surpassing the Chicago- Bulls of 1990 and 1991.
“When you manage to stop the opponent from scoring, it’s good for the morale of the whole team. In this way, we don’t collapse when they mark a difficult basket or when they manage to stop us.” Curry told media.
After being limited to nine points in the first half, Curry exploded with 18 points being perfect on seven shots in the third quarter.
Under the eyes of a disappointed Mike D’Antoni, the Rockets, the best team of the regular season, suffered the most stinging defeat in their playoff history with a final deficit of 41 points.
Guilty of 19 turnovers, Houston also posted a disturbing clumsiness (only 39.5% shooting success and 32.4% at three points), missing a considerable number of shots at mid-distance.
Stephen Curry places the Warriors at the controls. (Source:www.themercurynews.com)
Far from his standards, James Harden was limited to 20 points. He added nine assists and five rebounds. Chris Paul provided 13 points and 10 rebounds while the Rockets’ two star players scored just 12 of 32 attempts. Clint Capela had 13 points and eight rebounds.
The five starters of the Warriors scored at least 10 points. Klay Thompson scored 13 and Andre Iguodala added 10, all in the first half. Reservist Quinn Cook was perfect on four attempts and scored 11 points in just five minutes.
Harden and Paul only managed three of their first 14 shots perimeter. Paul missed his first six shots before scoring his first basket on an illegal Iguodala counter with 2:39 remaining in the second quarter.
A moment of silence was observed before the match in tribute to the victims of the Santa Fe high school killings in the Houston area.
