Warriors blast Rockets for 6th straight victory
LOS ANGELES — The Golden State Warriors took their revenge against the Houston Rockets on Friday, overwhelming on both ends of the court with a 125-108 victory at the Toyota Center arena.
Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant joined forces to power the offence while the rest of the crew made the defensive stops as the Warriors stretched their NBA winning streak to six games.
The Warriors improved to an NBA-best 37-6 on the season and 17-3 on the road.
"Three good teams in a row, we definitely wanted to come out and make a nice statement," said Durant, who also had two steals and two blocks. "I think we did that. But we always can get better."
Durant finished with 32 points and seven assists while Curry chipped in 24 points and seven assists as Golden State surged ahead in the first quarter and never looked back. The game was a rematch of a December 1 clash won by the Rockets in double overtime at Oracle Arena.
Rockets guard James Harden finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists. But Harden was zero-for-five from beyond the arc.
The Warriors are not only punishing teams on offence but Friday they broke the Rockets down on defense by blocking seven shots and recording eight steals.
"They obviously played better than we did and we didn't shoot the ball well at all," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said. "And against a team like this, you have got to keep scoring."
The Warriors started quickly with a 10-0 run to the lead in the first quarter.
Golden State took a 14-point lead midway through the second quarter before Harden returned to action and keyed another rally.
But Curry managed to beat the buzzer with a three pointer that delivered the Warriors a 62-57 halftime lead.
Golden State zapped the energy out of the Rockets in the third, opening the quarter with three layups.
When Curry added back-to-back three-pointers, the Warriors led 87-67 and coasted to victory.
Elsewhere, the Charlotte Hornets righted the ship Friday, putting a five-game losing streak behind them with a 113-78 rout of the Toronto Raptors.
The Hornets outscored the Raptors 58-30 in the second half, leading by as many as 37 points despite resting most of their starters throughout the fourth quarter. It was their mostlopsided win of the season.