Curry sizzles as Warriors lead 3-0

Stephen Curry scored 40 points and the Golden State Warriors made it look easy against Houston, beating the Rockets 115-80 on Saturday night (Sunday NZ time) to take a 3-0 lead in the NBA Western Conference finals.

The Warriors won the first two games by just five points combined. There would be no such drama in this one, with Curry leading them to a 26-point advantage in the second quarter.

Now the baby-faced MVP has Golden State just one victory away from its first trip to the NBA Finals since 1975. Game four is Monday night (Tuesday) in Houston.

Curry was unstoppable, making seven three-pointers to break the NBA record for most threes in the playoffs in a season with 64.

MVP runner-up James Harden finished with 17 points behind 10-of-11 free-throw shooting, but made just three of 16 shots as the Rockets dropped three straight for the first time all season.

Dwight Howard, who played despite a knee injury suffered in game one, had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Draymond Green and Klay Thompson added 17 points apiece for the Warriors.

Curry had 37 points after three quarters and went to the bench for good with about five and a half minutes remaining after his seventh three-pointer made it 103-73. He also had seven rebounds and five assists.

After coach Steve Kerr complained about turnovers in the last game, the Warriors had just one before halftime to help them run away with this one early.

The Rockets have rebounded from double-digit deficits in three of their eight wins this postseason, but this time they fell into a hole way too big to overcome. Especially when Harden’s shots weren’t falling.

The Warriors were in control from the start and were up by 12 at the end of the first. But things got out of hand quickly when Curry heated up.

A pair of free throws by Harden cut the lead to nine points with about six minutes left in the quarter when Curry took over. He scored the next six points as part of a 16-5 run where he scored all but two of the Warriors points to push the lead to 54-34.

Curry broke the record for threes in the playoffs on a long one from the top of the key that put Golden State up 49-32 shortly before halftime. Reggie Miller set the previous mark of 58 in 2000.

Houston couldn’t do anything right on either end of the court for most of the second quarter, and made just one field goal and missed six shots in the six minutes before halftime.

The Warriors led by 25 at halftime and Houston opened the third quarter strongly, using a 13-6 spurt to get within 68-50.

Thompson made a free throw after that before Curry took control once again, scoring the next five points, including a threepointer under heavy pressure, to push it to 75-50 midway through the third quarter.

He wrapped up the third quarter in much the same way, scoring Golden State’s last five points, capped by a three-pointer to make it 92-61 entering the fourth quarter.

Howard was the only positive for the Rockets in the first half and he had 12 points and 10 rebounds.