Curry leads Warriors past Rockets for 42nd straight home win

Its name was Harrison Barnes.

Steve Kerr surprisingly went to his small lineup, with Brandon Rush and Andre Iguodala at the forward positions, despite a 21-point advantage in the third quarter.

Curry had 35 points, nine assists and six rebounds in a fascinating duel against Harden (37 points, five assists, five rebounds), who stood by his conviction that he should have been the 2014-15 MVP – even after losing 4-1 to the Warriors in the Western Conference finals.

He didn’t feel well following the Warriors’ win against the Houston Rockets the previous night at Oracle Arena, explaining he was dealing with a headache and he appeared uncomfortable during Tuesday’s brief postgame news conference. The Warriors are within two home victories of matching the Chicago Bulls’ NBA-record home winning streak of 44 games from March 30, 1995 to April 4, 1996.

At New York, John Wall had 28 points and 17 assists, Bradley Beal scored 26, and Washington beat New York 111-108 in the Knicks’ first game under Kurt Rambis. Whether it’s fans coming in early to watch Steph Curry perform his pre-game routine, or the opposing team throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the Warriors to try to get a win, the competitiveness and intensity is elevating the game as a whole.

Durant, Curry, Thompson. Three very ball-dominant players who take up a large portion of touches for their respective teams. Golden State’s offense is already hard enough to stop, so allowing easy layups and jumpers is only going to make things that much more difficult. His fourth-quarter output matched that of the entire Rockets team.

Harden scored 18 points in the final 7:01 of the second quarter, triggering the Rockets’ comeback. However, he got little support in those final 12 minutes as his teammates combined to go 3-for-14 and total seven points. Dwight Howard tops in rebounds with 11.9 and in blocks with 1.5 per game.

Howard did manage a double-double of his own with 16 points and 15 rebounds. They hit five 3-pointers apiece as the Warriors won their 11th straight game in decisive fashion. The Thunder had just two first-half bench points compared to the Warriors’ 23 on Saturday night and the Golden State kept its long home court winning streak alive when their second rotation stretched the lead to 20-points (60-40) when in the second stanza that led to a 73-59 halftime lead.

IT WAS ALWAYS going to be tough against the best team in the National Basketball Association right now but the Phoenix Suns didn’t help themselves last night when a fight broke out on their bench between team-mates Markieff Morris and Archie Goodwin. “We just gave up a couple of mental lapses in the fourth quarter, and that was the game right there”. The Bulls went on to win their fourth championship in five years that year by defeating the Seattle Supersonics in six games. The Warriors swept the Rockets 4-0 last season – all by double figures – for the first time since 1973-74. C Festus Ezeli (L knee surgery) was listed as out. Warriors reserve guard Leandro Barbosa had 12 points and forward Draymond Green had nine points and six rebounds.