Warriors remain unbeaten with win over Rockets

[October 31, 2015]  (The Sports Xchange) - Beyond the result, perhaps what pleased Warriors interim coach Luke Walton most on Friday was his ability to evenly distribute minutes in advance of a quick turnaround to New Orleans and the first back-to-back this season.

Warriors point guard Stephen Curry scored 25 points in 27 minutes as the Golden State Warriors continued their dominance of the Houston Rockets with a 112-92 victory at Toyota Center.

The Warriors (2-0) claimed their sixth consecutive regular-season win in Houston and improved to 10-1 in their last 11 meetings with the Rockets (0-2).

With the Warriors leading by as many as 25 points, Curry casually engineered the offensive attack, adding seven rebounds and six assists despite accumulating four fouls in a rematch of the 2015 Western Conference Finals won in five games by Golden State.

Four additional Warriors scored in double figures and forward Draymond Green was the only starter to log more than 30 minutes. Golden State cruised on the strength of their defense, doing so without starting center Andrew Bogut (concussion). The Rockets shot just 36.6 percent and committed 17 turnovers.

"Any chance we have to use our depth, we're going to," Walton said. "We didn't have to run anyone into the ground tonight."

The Rockets were especially abysmal in the second quarter, posting more turnovers (six) than field goals (five).

Houston were 5-for-22 from the field in the period as Golden State turned a 13-0 run into a 53-37 lead when Curry followed his three-pointer with a finger roll with 3:49 left.

Rockets guard James Harden (16 points) continued his early-season shooting woes, missing 14 of 18 from the field, including 9 of 10 three-ponters.

Dwight Howard, making his debut after missing the opener because of a suspension, had nine points (on 4-of-11 shooting), seven boards and five fouls. The Rockets finished 5-for-23 from behind the three-point line and appear woefully out of sync, especially on offense.

"We've got to get a rhythm," Harden said. "The Warriors have a really good rhythm carrying over from last year, that's why everything is flowing and looks so easy out there. We've got to catch that, and we will."

"Our offense is really stagnant," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "We made too many mistakes defensively again. We're not making plays for each other at the rate we need to make."

(Compiled by Peter Rutherford)

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