Stephen Curry went for a game-high 36 points, Gary Payton II saved nine of his postseason career-high 16 for a late run and the Golden State Warriors, despite missing injured Jimmy Butler III, rallied past the visiting Houston Rockets 104-93 on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series in San Francisco.
Buddy Hield bombed five 3-pointers to account for a majority of his 17 points and rookie Quinten Post, making his first postseason start, snatched a game-high 12 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Warriors, who can go up 3-1 in the best-of-seven with another home-court win Monday.
The Warriors learned after the pregame warmup that Butler would not be able to go because of a glute contusion suffered in the Game 2 loss at Houston.
After the Rockets held the Warriors to 22 points in the first 18 minutes, Golden State scored the final nine points of the second quarter to get within 49-46 at the break and set up a tightly contested second half.
A 3-pointer by Dillon Brooks with 5:47 remaining gave the Rockets their last lead at 84-83 before Payton, who went scoreless in the Warriors’ Game 2 loss, shockingly took over the game.
With his Hall of Fame dad watching from the stands, Payton gave Golden State the lead with a layup with 5:27 to go, then added another layup, a 3-pointer and a dunk in a personal nine-point run that opened a 92-86 lead with 3:42 to go.
Curry bottomed his fifth 3-pointer of the night and Payton added a dunk down the stretch to help Golden State hold the visitors at bay.
Curry’s 30-point night was the 60th of his postseason career. He also found time for seven rebounds and a game-high nine assists.
Curry and Hield each drilled five 3-pointers, helping Golden State outscore the Rockets 42-33 from beyond the arc.
Draymond Green contributed seven points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks to the cause, while Brandin Podziemski added 10 points.
Fred VanVleet paced the second-seeded Rockets with 17 points, while Brooks had 13, Jabari Smith Jr. 12 and Amen Thompson 11. Jalen Green chipped in with nine points, six rebounds and a team-high five assists.
