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Warriors bounce back to bury Rockets

Jan 18, 2015 - 5:55 AM Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson each put up 27 points and led a third-quarter barrage that propelled the Golden State Warriors to a convincing 131-106 victory over the Houston Rockets.

Curry netted 15 of his points and Thompson had 11 during a third quarter in which the Warriors shot 63.6 percent and outscored the Rockets by a 38-21 margin en route to their third win over Houston this season.

"We had a good focus ... I felt like our guys were locked in from the beginning," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

Golden State also received a big lift off the bench from David Lee, who amassed 18 points and eight rebounds in just 25 minutes to help the Warriors bounce back from Friday's 127-115 loss at Oklahoma City.

Curry added 11 assists and Marreese Speights totaled 15 points for Golden State, which had won eight straight prior to Friday's setback.

Dwight Howard compiled 23 points and 10 rebounds for Houston, but James Harden was held to 12 points on 4-of-15 shooting.

"We just struggled tonight," Harden said. "We just didn't have energy."

The Warriors grabbed a 64-59 halftime lead by finishing the second quarter on a flourish, with a Curry 3-pointer and Thompson's reverse layup with 20.3 seconds on the clock highlighting a 9-0 period-ending run.

That momentum carried over into the third quarter, during which Golden State began to pull away via a 7-0 surge that Thompson began with a triple and ended on a transition layup which followed Curry's successful runner. The flurry staked the Warriors to an 80-68 advantage near the midway mark of the period.

The Warriors later ended the frame with 12 unanswered points, eight of which came from Lee, to enter the fourth owning a commanding 102-80 lead.

Houston never got its deficit under 16 points in the final quarter, with Golden State building a differential as much as 31.

Golden State put up nine straight points after the Rockets' Patrick Beverley recorded the game's first basket, but Houston countered with a 14-1 spurt to own its largest advantage of the opening half at 16-10.

The Warriors fought back to forge a 31-31 draw after one quarter, and neither team was ahead by more than five points during a tightly contested second.

Game Notes

The Warriors have now prevailed in three of their last four visits to Toyota Center that followed a nine-game road losing skid in the series ... Thompson finished with five blocks and Golden State had 11 rejections as a team ... Donatas Motiejunas and Josh Smith scored 14 points each for Houston, which had a four-game home win streak halted ... Fourteen of the Rockets' 18 turnovers occurred in the second half.