Golden State Warriors upset third seeded Houston to steal home court advantage from Rockets in opening game of their Western Conference playoff series.
Stephen Curry scored a game-high 31 points and Jimmy Butler III added 25 as the Golden State Warriors held off the Houston Rockets 95-85 in Game 1 of their Western Conference first-round series.
Curry, who shot 1-for-10 and scored three points in a home loss to the Rockets on April 6, was brilliant on Sunday. He finished 12-for-19 overall, drilled five three-pointers and grabbed six rebounds. Butler added seven rebounds and six assists to his ledger as the visiting Warriors grabbed a 1-0 series lead with Game 2 set for Wednesday in Houston.
Houston reduced a 23-point deficit to 76-73 on an Amen Thompson floater with 6 minutes and 49 seconds left to play. But Curry extended that advantage back to 82-75 with a three-pointer with 5 minutes and 11 seconds remaining. Butler and Brandin Podziemski (14 points, eight rebounds, five assists) kept the Rockets at bay in the closing stages.
The Rockets shot just 39.1 percent and committed 17 turnovers that the Warriors converted into 25 points. Alperen Sengun posted 26 points and nine rebounds, but Jabari Smith Jr was the first teammate to join him in double figures with 11 points, doing so via a corner three-pointer with 7:34 minutes left.
Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet shot a combined 7-for-34 and totalled 17 points for Houston.
The Rockets were energised early behind Sengun, who had eight points and six rebounds in the first quarter. Houston led 19-12 when Tari Eason converted a steal into a fast-break dunk with 3:20 minutes left, but Curry engineered a brief run to close that gap.
Curry followed his assist to Butler with a pair of drives that pulled the Warriors to within 21-18 entering the second quarter. Butler then supplied the Warriors with their first lead at 24-23 with a free throw at the 9:16 mark of the second quarter, and Golden State later seized its first double-digit advantage with an 11-0 run capped by a Curry reverse layup with 6:08 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Rockets briefly stemmed the tide and pulled to within four points, only for the Warriors to close the half with a 9-0 burst that featured two Curry three-pointers and three points from Butler. Meanwhile, the Rockets missed their final five shots and committed two turnovers during that stretch, entering the intermission trailing 47-34 after shooting 6-of-18 in the second period.
In earlier first-round matches played on Sunday, the Oklahoma City Thunder destroyed the Memphis Grizzlies 131-80 in the most lopsided Game 1 win in NBA playoff history.
In the Eastern Conference, NBA reigning champions Boston, fuelled by 30 points from Derrick White, defeated Orlando Magic 103-86, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who beat out the Celtics for top seed in the Eastern Conference, downed Miami Heat 121-100.