Stephen Curry scored 31 points and the Golden State Warriors built a huge lead and held on to beat the Houston Rockets 95-85 on Sunday night in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series.
The seventh-seeded Warriors led by 23 in the third quarter, but second-seeded Houston cut it to 69-60 entering the fourth.
A basket by Amen Thompson with about five-and-a-half minutes remaining got the Rockets four. Curry hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night a few seconds later to make it 82-75.
The Rockets cut it to four again with about two-and-a-half minutes left on a 3 by Fred VanVleet. This time, Moses Moody hit a 3-pointer to start a 7-0 run that made it 91-80 and sent fans streaming for the exits.
Game 2 of the best-of seven series is Wednesday night in Houston.
It was the 100th career playoff coaching victory for Golden State’s Steve Kerr, who moved into a tie with Larry Brown for sixth-most playoff wins.
The 37-year-old Curry was 12-of-19 from the field, hitting 5 of 9 3-pointers. Jimmy Butler, 35, added 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals in his playoff debut for the Warriors after joining them in a trade from Miami in February.
Six of Butler’s points came in the final two minutes, keeping the Rockets at bay. Draymond Green, who is also 35, chipped in with a late basket and totaled six rebounds and three steals on the night.
The Rockets, who returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2020, got 26 points from Alperen Sengun in his first career postseason game. But VanVleet and Jalen Green struggled, making just 7 of 34 shots. Green, 23, was also making his playoff debut alongside 22-year-olds Sengun and Thompson.
VanVleet was 2-of-13 from 3-point range on a night Houston made just 6 of 29 3-pointers and was 11-of-20 on free throws.
The Warriors got a spot in the playoffs with a 121-116 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night in the Play-In Tournament.
They got yet another playoff victory over the Rockets after eliminating them four times from 2015-19.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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