HOUSTON _ To many, the Rockets are a threat to the Warriors in the playoffs for a simple reason: they take and make a historic amount of 3s. But against Golden State this season, they've taken a ton, but made very few.
On Tuesday night in Houston _ in a physical foul-fest where the Rockets did plenty else right _ their 3-point inaccuracy was the separator in a 113-106 Warriors win.
The victory send the Warriors into San Antonio on Wednesday night with a 2{-game cushion on the Spurs.
The Warriors bolted out to a 22-point lead in the first 15 minutes. Klay Thompson was ultra-hot (20 of his 25 points in his first 11 minutes) and Golden State's defense swarmed the perimeter with a physical, mostly hands-off approach. The Rockets went 2-of-13 from 3 in the first quarter, while the Warriors only fouled four times, leading to only two Houston free throws.
But the Warriors got sloppy on offense and handsy on defense in the second quarter, flipping the game.
Golden State turned the ball over 16 times in the game, and they fouled Houston 29 times, leading to 39 free throws, which kept the Rockets in it.
There was a huge swing play at the end of the first half. Steph Curry seemed to have a clean steal and breakaway to put the Warriors up 12. But as he scrambled to scoop up the loose ball, he lightly shoved Patrick Beverley, who sold the call and got the whistle. It gave Houston two free throws to cut the lead to eight at halftime (60-52) and was Curry's third foul, leading to second half foul trouble.
Curry finished the night with five fouls, needing to sub out at important times, while Matt Barnes and Shaun Livingston combined for 10 fouls in 33 minutes. Houston lived at the free throw line, but died at the 3-point line. Despite his foul trouble, Curry scored 32 points to go along with seven assists and 10 rebounds.
The Rockets made only five of their 31 3s. In their first two matchups with the Warriors this season, they went 14-of-44 from 3 and 7-of-35. In total, that's 26-of-110 in three games, a brutal 23.6 percent. James Harden (24 points, 13 assists, 11 rebounds) has been the most inaccurate. He was 1-of-9 from deep on Tuesday and is now 3-of-25 from 3 against the Warriors this season.
