Stephen Curry scored 31 factors and the Golden State Warriors constructed an enormous lead and held on to beat the Houston Rockets 95-85 on Sunday night time in Recreation 1 of the first-round playoff sequence.
The seventh-seeded Warriors led by 23 within the third quarter, however second-seeded Houston reduce it to 69-60 coming into the fourth.
A basket by Amen Thompson with about five-and-a-half minutes remaining received the Rockets 4. Curry hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night time a number of seconds later to make it 82-75.
The Rockets reduce it to 4 once more with about two-and-a-half minutes left on a 3 by Fred VanVleet. This time, Moses Moody hit a 3-pointer to begin a 7-0 run that made it 91-80 and despatched followers streaming for the exits.
Recreation 2 of the best-of seven sequence is Wednesday night time in Houston.
It was the one hundredth profession playoff teaching victory for Golden State’s Steve Kerr, who moved right into a tie with Larry Brown for sixth-most playoff wins.
The 37-year-old Curry was 12-of-19 from the sphere, hitting 5 of 9 3-pointers. Jimmy Butler, 35, added 25 factors, seven rebounds, six assists and 5 steals in his playoff debut for the Warriors after becoming a member of them in a commerce from Miami in February.
Six of Butler’s factors got here within the remaining two minutes, protecting the Rockets at bay. Draymond Inexperienced, who can be 35, chipped in with a late basket and totaled six rebounds and three steals on the night time.
The Rockets, who returned to the playoffs for the primary time since 2020, received 26 factors from Alperen Sengun in his first profession postseason sport. However VanVleet and Jalen Inexperienced struggled, making simply 7 of 34 pictures. Inexperienced, 23, was additionally making his playoff debut alongside 22-year-olds Sengun and Thompson.
VanVleet was 2-of-13 from 3-point vary on an evening Houston made simply 6 of 29 3-pointers and was 11-of-20 on free throws.
The Warriors received a spot within the playoffs with a 121-116 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night time within the Play-In Match.
They received one more playoff victory over the Rockets after eliminating them 4 occasions from 2015-19.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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