Stephen Curry leads Warriors past Rockets in playoff opener

Stephen Curry leads Warriors past Rockets in playoff opener

Stephen Curry addled from continued ambit and collection to the bandage with ability and blaze until a tweaked abate assuredly slowed him down.

Once he sat for acceptable afterwards three close requests to drillmaster Steve Kerr about returning, his acknowledging casting handled the rest.

"Like a kid in abeyance over there on the bench," Curry said of his mood.

BOX SCORE: WARRIORS 104, ROCKETS 78

He still did plenty, scoring 24 credibility as the Golden State Warriors exhausted the Houston Rockets 104-78 on Saturday in their playoff opener.

The ascendant MVP's cachet for the next bold is uncertain.

"Right now I don't see a book I would be out," Curry said, acquainted that could change if it gets worse or there's accident of added trouble. "Pain tolerance, all that stuff, I affectionate of apperceive what I can accord with on the court."

Draymond Green added 12 credibility and 10 rebounds as top-seeded Golden State agitated drive from ambience the best wins almanac Wednesday night with No. 73 into a annoyed playoff opener some 60 hours later.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven alternation is Monday night at Oracle Arena, and Warriors drillmaster Steve Kerr said Curry is ambiguous for that one. He will be re-evaluated Sunday.

"You lose the MVP of the NBA it absolutely changes your team," Green said. "There's some concern."

The Warriors topped the Michael Jordan-led Bulls of 1995-96, again anon fabricated one affair clear: That mark will beggarly annihilation if they don't accompany home back-to-back titles to the East Bay.

James Harden denticulate 17 credibility and didn't accept a chargeless bandy attack for cold-shooting Houston, captivated to six acreage goals in the aboriginal division of the rematch from endure year's Western Conference finals, won by Golden State in five.

Dwight Howard had 14 credibility and 11 rebounds and Harden was bound to four fouls and four credibility in the aboriginal bisected afore allowance Houston attenuated a 27-point arrears to 16 backward in the third.

Curry absolutely abashed arresting annoyance Patrick Beverley. Then, if Jason Terry took a about-face at endlessly the ascendant MVP, Curry pulled up for continued 3s and collection the baseline for about-face layups on the larboard side. He dribbled appropriate through cartage in the acrylic backward in the aboriginal bisected afore double-pumping and beautifully spinning the brawl off the glass.

He didn't apathetic down until affliction his appropriate abate just afore halftime, but he got it re-taped and briefly alternate afore branch aback to the locker allowance with 8:31 to go in the third to accept it taped already added and not abiding to the game.

A day earlier, if Klay Thompson was asked whether Beverley had a adventitious to stop Curry, the adolescent Splash Brother's simple acknowledgment was "no."

Curry, who fabricated an NBA-record 402 3-pointers in the approved season, went 8 for 13 with 5 3s while arena all of about 20 minutes. Thompson denticulate 16, Marreese Speights akin his playoff top with 12 points, while Andre Iguodala dished out seven assists.

Things got acrimonious in a hurry.

With Beverley baking Curry's every dribble, they became circuitous up with 6:31 larboard in the aboriginal quarter. Curry kept his distill while traveling down to his larboard knee afore their accoutrements got entwined and led to shoving. Beverley anon accustomed a abstruse then, afterwards a review, Curry aswell accustomed one.

"It's allotment of the game, it's playoffs. Emotions are traveling to be top and it's traveling to get argumentative out there," Howard said. "I anticipate we accustomed it to get us a little frustrated. We've got to amount out a way to play through that."

Perhaps the aboriginal alpha -- 12:30 p.m. bounded time -- contributed to both teams' algid cutting out of the gate.

They absent their aboriginal seven shots accumulated afore Curry's 3-pointer at 9:41. Houston absent its antecedent six afore Howard's douse and three-point play at 8:24.

Beverley wasn't allotment of that accident annular for Houston in the West finals. He had undergone season-ending larboard wrist anaplasty endure bounce and was relished to spectator.

The Warriors accept bedeviled this animosity of late, acceptable nine in a row and 5 afterwards at home.

Now, Golden State's abandoned focus is the 15 actual victories it needs to echo afterwards capturing the franchise's aboriginal appellation in 40 years.

Interim Rockets drillmaster J.B. Bickerstaff insisted afore the bold that his aggregation had no apropos with the absonant home crowd, the Warriors' wins almanac or any added abeyant distraction. Though the Rockets absolutely didn't play like they were unaffected.

Houston, which accomplished the playoffs on the final day of the approved division as the No. 8 seed, attempt 35.7 percent and went 6 for 22 from continued range.

TIP-INS

Rockets: Houston's 33 credibility were the atomic accustomed by Golden State in a playoff aboriginal bisected in the shot-clock era. ... The Rockets accustomed 25 second-chance points.

Warriors: Golden State committed 11 of its 18 turnovers in the third. ... Curry ran his band of amateur with at atomic one 3 to 174 -- 152 in the approved division and 22 in the playoff. ... The Warriors weren't the alone arresting best arena in East Oakland: Next aperture in the Coliseum, the World Alternation best Kansas City Royals faced the Athletics, authoritative for absolutely a affair arena aboriginal Saturday in the parking lots surrounding both venues. There were hundreds of abandoned seats in Oracle at tipoff and abounding larboard the blast early

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