The Houston Rockets will always take a victory over the Golden State Warriors, even when the Dubs are shorthanded, and that’s exactly what happened on Wednesday night. Stephen Curry went down in the first quarter and did not return, setting the table for a Rockets victory. And while Houston did make it much closer than it needed to be, the Dubs didn’t quite have the firepower without Steph to hang with the Rockets down the stretch, and despite a couple close Q4 -pushes by Golden State, the Rockets walked
away with a 115-108 victory to move to 9-3 on the season.
The Rockets were led by Kevin Durant with 20 points, as all five Houston starters finished in double in figures. KD also had 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Alperen Sengun was near-miss on a triple double, finishing with 19 points, 13 rebounds, and 9 assists while shooting 8-for-14 from the field. Houston also got 19 from Amen Thompson, who finally had a decent offensive game, shooting 8-for-11. He also added 7 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal and 2 blocks for the kind of all-around performance we’ve been missing from Amen. Houston also 18 points and 6 assists from Fed VanVleet and 14 points and 8 rebounds from Jabari Smith Jr. to round out the scoring from the starters.
Reed Sheppard pitched in 13 points off the bench on 3-for-6 shooting from deep, and that about ended the bench contributions, as Tari Eason shot just 2-for-11, while Marcus Smart was ejected in the third quarter for throwing a punch. Welcome to the Houston-Golden State rivalry, Marcus. It took all of one half of a game for Smart to want to smack a Dub around.
Houston shot 51 percent in this one, while holding the Warriors to just 41 percent. The Rockets were also hammering the ball inside, as they led in paint scoring 50-34. One of thew few reasons the game was close was the difference in three-point shooting, as Golden State put up 51 threes (making 17) to Houston’s 36 attempts (making 13). The Rockets have increased their three attempts so far this season, up to 34.2 per game from 31.5. Accuracy has also increased, up to 37.5 percent from 36.4 perccent. All of that is good. But the Rockets can still find themselves in closer than needed situations when they play teams with a big three-point attempt difference.
Nonetheless, every good NBA season requires a little luck, and I’m certainly not one to feel bad about a Warriors player getting injured against the Rockets, considering the history these two teams have. I’ll take the win, and we’ll see you again later.
Houston’s 9-3 record has moved them back up to third in the Western Conference. They will be back in action on Friday night, with a home game against another historic rival, the Utah Jazz.
