The Houston Rockets beat the Golden State Warriors 115-108 on Wednesday night at Toyota Center, ending Golden State’s eight-game winning streak, according to the official NBA scorer’s report and the Warriors’ game page.
Stephen Curry, the Warriors’ starting point guard, played only 5 minutes 35 seconds and scored 3 points on 1-for-3 shooting, including 1-for-2 from three. The official box score does not list a reason for the short stint. Yaxel Lendeborg, the No. 11 pick who this week rose to No. 1 on NBA.com’s rookie ladder, led Golden State with 25 points and 10 rebounds in 36:05. Brandin Podziemski added 22 points, including 4-for-11 from three, with 6 rebounds and 4 assists in 37:04. De’Anthony Melton scored 11 and LJ Cryer 13 off the bench. The Warriors shot 36-for-88 (40.9%) and 17-for-51 from three (33.3%).
Kevin Durant scored 20 points for Houston. Alperen Şengün had 19 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists, Amen Thompson also scored 19, and Fred VanVleet had 18 points, 6 assists and 4-for-7 from three. Reed Sheppard added 13. The Rockets shot 44-for-87 (50.6%) and outscored Golden State 50-34 in the paint. They led 35-20 after the first quarter, never trailed (the Warriors’ biggest lead was listed as 0), led by as many as 18, and won the periods 35-20, 21-31, 29-28 and 30-29. There were no lead changes and three ties. Houston is 9-3; the Warriors fell to 8-4. Attendance was 18,055, a sellout. The game lasted 2 hours 26 minutes.
Marcus Smart was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and ejected with 21 seconds left in the third quarter, the official report said. Podziemski received a defensive three-seconds technical with 2:12 left in the second. Golden State inactives were Jimmy Butler III (right ACL repair), Moses Moody (left patellar tendon repair), Gary Payton II (left knee inflammation), Kristaps Porziņģis (not with team) and Brandon Williams (left hamstring strain). Houston was without Steven Adams (right soleus strain) and Clint Capela (right ankle sprain).