Photo credit: @warriors

By: Ana Kieu

The Golden State Warriors traveled from North Texas to South Texas to take on the Houston Rockets at the Toyota Center Thursday night. The Warriors, who are No. 1 in the Western Conference, competed against the Rockets, who are No. 2. As you should already know, the Rockets fired away last year with a 14-game win streak that was eventually snapped by Kyle Kuzma and the Los Angeles Lakers.

A familiar face made the first free throw of the game and for a good reason. The Rockets’ new “First Shot” ceremony gives a featured celebrity or a local public figure a chance to earn $5,000 for the charity of his or her choice. Tonight’s lucky guest was Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa.

Both teams had their game faces on for an action-packed Western Conference matchup. The Warriors took an early 7-2 lead on Klay Thompson’s three at the 10:06 mark of the first quarter.

But let’s not forget that Rockets shooting guard Eric Gordon was on fire, leading all scorers with 13 points in the first. The Rockets’ Twitter proceeded to remind fans to vote for Gordon for the 2018 NBA All-Star Game.

Nick Young hit a three with four seconds left on the clock, but the Warriors trailed the Rockets by four (37-33) at the end of the first. A four-point deficit is a deficient number, but there was still lots of basketball left.

Both teams continued to battle it out in the second quarter. Before the media timeout, the Warriors led the Rockets by one (59-58) with 4:27 left in the second. After the timeout, the Warriors went on a nice 10-2 run in a span of 1:10, but continued to trail the Rockets by one (63-62) at the half.

Here are the Warriors’ stats at the half:

Steph Curry got things going in the second half as he finished a layup at the rim to pull the Warriors within one (65-64) at the 11:04 mark of the third quarter. Zaza Pachulia provided the assist on Curry’s layup.

The score was tied at 68 with 7:33 left in the third. Draymond Green made a pair of free throws to put the Warriors up 70-68, but the Golden State lead was short-lived, as Gerard Green hit a three to put the Rockets back on top 71-70.

The score was tied up again at 74 with 5:40 left in the third. Many people were expecting Curry to put on a shooting show–which he did–but the Rockets’ Gerard Green hit just as many threes in an attempt to redeem himself.

Curry then hit a three. Green missed his three at the buzzer. The Warriors were up by three (93-90) at the end of the third.

Draymond Green was doing his thing on the court. Most notably, David West made a sweet pass to set up Green’s dunk at the 10:30 mark of the fourth quarter. West also made some dunks of his own.

Curry continued to make quality shots late in the half. In addition, Draymond Green notched a triple-double with an assist.

The Warriors beat the Rockets 124-114 for their third straight win.

Here are the Warriors’ final stats:

Notes
Warriors’ starting lineup: Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, Zaza Pachulia, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry.

Warriors’ injury report: Kevin Durant (right calf strain) is out. Omri Casspi (mid back strain) is questionable.

Rockets’ starting lineup: Trevor Ariza, Ryan Anderson, Clint Capela, Eric Gordon and Chris Paul.

The Reliant Energy Power Player of December is Rockets’ Capela Clint, who averaged 14.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, and shot 70.7% during the month.

Up Next 
The Warriors take on the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday, January 6 at 12:30 pm PT.