Poole, Green lead Warriors past Rockets
Despite missing two players to the league’s coronavirus-related contact tracing, the Warriors beat the Houston Rockets, 108-94, Wednesday night at the Toyota Center and guard Jordan Poole continued to impress since returning from his stint in the G League.
Stephen Curry had 18 points before leaving the game with a tailbone injury in the third quarter. Draymond Green had a tripledouble (16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists) and Andrew Wiggins (17 points) and Kelly Oubre Jr. (19) combined for 36 points as Golden State (21-20) took care of business against the shorthanded Rockets (11-28) that entered the game having lost their last 17 games.
For the Warriors, the win comes at an important time. They entered the night having lost five of their last six games — including a blowout to the Los Angeles Lakers Monday — and were looking to start a three-game trip in positive fashion.
Complicating matters hours before tipoff, center James Wiseman and forward Eric Paschall entered the health and safety protocol. With two pillars of their bench quarantined in their Houston hotel rooms, the Warriors managed to pull away with a reconstructed second unit led by Poole (23 points on 8-for-16 shooting).
Poole’s layup through traffic capped a 22-7 run and gave Golden State a 63-42 lead with 2:13 remaining in the second quarter. That was the decisive run of the game, as the Warriors shot 46.1% and assisted on 33 of 41 made baskets. Poole, who earlier this month returned to Golden State after playing for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G League bubble, has carved out a role in the rota
tion.
Meanwhile, after taking a hard fall after a 3pointer at the end of the third quarter, Curry went to the locker room and did not re-enter the game. His status for Friday’s matchup against
Memphis was unclear immediately following the game.
The Rockets — without key contributors John Wall, Eric Gordon, Victor Oladipo and PJ Tucker — were paced by guard Kevin Porter Jr. (25 points) while center Christian Wood finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and two assists.