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Balanced Effort Leads Warriors Over Rockets

The Warriors began their four-game road trip on a winning note after securing a 125-108 victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday night. Kevin Durant led all scorers with 32 points, while Stephen Curry added 24 points, seven assists and five three-pointers. Draymond Green filled the stat sheet with 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, as all five Golden State starters scored in double-digits for the third time this season. With the victory, the Warriors improve to 37-6 on the season and stretch their winning streak to five games.

GAME LEADERS

Golden State and Houston entered the game as the two highest scoring teams in the league, and both sides shot out of the gate, with nine of the ten starters scoring within the opening six minutes. After James Harden recorded his first basket of the night, the Warriors ripped off 10-straight points to take a 22-15 lead with 4:01 remaining in the first quarter. Houston answered back by scoring the next five, but were never able to pull even, and Golden State remained in the lead from that point forward. The first frame concluded with Golden State leading 32-29, and of the Rockets’ 29 points, Harden played a role in 17 of them (10 assisted, seven scored).

The Warriors would achieve their first double-digit advantage of the evening on Draymond Green’s three-pointer that put them in front 47-35 with 6:50 left in the first half. Golden State led by the same margin when Zaza Pachulia picked up his fourth personal foul two minutes later, and the Rockets proceeded to take advantage when he was forced to the bench. Harden’s two resulting free throws ignited a 17-7 Houston run to close within two before Stephen Curry drained a three-pointer with 0.5 seconds left to rebuild the Warriors lead to 62-57 heading into halftime. After combining for 88 three-point attempts in their last meeting, the Warriors and Rockets combined for 39 attempts in the first half of Friday’s contest, with Golden State making twice as many as Houston’s total of four.

The Dubs opened the second half on a 12-4 run, and Golden State never looked back from there.

Clint Capela scored six-straight points for the Rockets in a span of 78 seconds, but a 10-0 Golden State burst in response, capped by two consecutive Curry three-pointers, built the Warriors lead to 87-67 with 5:58 left in the third frame. Pachulia’s layup that began that stretch gave him 10 points on the night and marked the third time this season all five Golden State starters scored in double-figures in the same game, all of which have come in January. James Michael McAdoo, who received increased playing time in David West’s absence due to a fractured thumb, scored six-straight points for the Warriors in the final minutes of the quarter, which came to a close with the Dubs leading 99-79. Golden State, which entered the game as the best team in the NBA at defending the three-point line, had held Houston to just 4-of-28 shooting from beyond the arc heading into the fourth and final quarter.

The Rockets would trim the Warriors’ advantage to 15 in the opening two minutes of the fourth frame, but Kevon Looney halted Houston’s momentum with a three-point play, and the Rockets would get no closer from that point on. After back-to-back scores by Shaun Livingston and Durant, Curry knocked down his fifth and final three-pointer of the game to give the Warriors their largest lead of the entire night at 117-93 with 3:19 to play. Steve Kerr would then empty the bench, leaving the reserves to finish out the remainder of the contest. Patrick McCaw would score Golden State’s final eight points of the game, all in a span of 87 seconds, to close out the 125-108 victory.

With the win, the Warriors improve to 37-6 on the season. Their road trip will continue on Sunday in Orlando when the Dubs take on the Magic at an extra-early 12:00 p.m. (Eastern)/9:00 a.m. (Pacific) tipoff.