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Warriors continue roll, rout Rockets

Nov 30, 2007 - 7:51 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- After an embarrassing start to the season, the Golden State Warriors are reminding the league their playoff surge last season was no fluke.

Baron Davis scored 27 points and Stephen Jackson added 19 as the Warriors rolled to their fifth consecutive victory with a 113-94 triumph over the slumping Houston Rockets on Thursday.

The Warriors have been on a tear since losing their first six games, winning five in a row and eight of their last nine games to improve to 8-7. The Warriors are the fastest team in NBA history to go over .500 after starting the season 0-6.

"I told you all, I wouldn't worry early in the season and we got back to .500 quicker than I expected," Davis said. "But at the same time, knowing that we have our whole team together, anything is possible with these guys in this locker room."

Unlike Golden State, Houston has gone in the opposite direction after a promising start. After beginning the season 6-1, Houston has dropped seven of 10 games.

"As a team, its easy when you're going good, you're playing well and everything's happening but when you start struggling, then you've got to rely on your teammates," Houston coach Rick Adelman said. "Give them (the Warriors) credit, they were very active and attacked us all night long but we've got to respond better. We've got a day off and we've got to try to get three wins on this trip."

"It's only 16 games into the season, we'll turn it around," Rockets guard Tracy McGrady said. "We're really not even having that bad of a season. We're still above .500 (9-8) and we're going to continue to get better."

The Warriors jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead, making four of their first five shots. The Rockets missed their first four shots and didn't score until a free throw by Rafer Alston with 9:12 remaining in the first quarter. Their first basket didn't come until 21 seconds later.

Golden State used that quick start to jump out to a 15-point first-quarter lead before Houston started chipping away at the advantage, even taking a two-point lead midway through the second quarter at 40-38.

However, the Warriors answered with a a 17-4 run over a 3 1/2-minute stretch to take a double-digit lead. They led, 59-50, at the break.

The Warriors increased their margin to 13 points after a 3-pointer by Matt Barnes in the third quarter and took a 72-55 edge with 7 1/2 minutes left on an alley-oop pass from Barnes to Monta Ellis for the slam dunk that sent the fans into a frenzy.

"That energy just wasn't there for us," said McGrady, who scored only 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting. "They just had more energy than us and didn't look back. That's not an excuse as to why we lost the game, they outplayed us."

Golden State took an 18-point advantage into the fourth quarter and increased the lead to as many as 24 points with Yao Ming sitting on the bench, likely resting with the team coming off a tough win in Phoenix one night earlier.

"The way we're playing we want everybody to be aggressive, we want everybody to feel they have the green light to shoot anytime they need to and shoot it with confidence," Jackson said. "I'm the guy that just tries to slide in and bring that energy all four quarters. As we get better with our roles, I think we'll continue to play well."

Mike James scored 19 points off the bench to pace the Rockets.

"A quality win against a good team and we both played back-to-back," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "We had a good game plan and carried it out. We've beaten some good teams and got some road wins, you can't do that unless you're playing well."