Warriors Win First Road Game Against Young Rocket Team 127-120

Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson led the way with ten threes and 41 points in the Warriors first road win of 2022-23 in Houston on Sun Nov 20, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Sunday the Golden State Warriors (8-9) took on the Houston Rockets (3-14) finally picked up their first road win of the season. The Rockets are a young team that the Warriors handled in Houston. Houston with the exception of Eric Gordon is an extremely young bunch of players that just do not have the experience and depth that the Warriors have. Golden State came away with a 127-120 win in this game.

The Warriors came out on a blistering pace leading after the opening quarter 40-28. The Warriors led 11-0 in the first quarter before the Rockets even scored. Golden State led by as much as 18 points in the first 12 minutes.

The second quarter was a tale of two quarters. The Rockets turned this game around and erased the Warriors lead and led at the half 65-61. Houston is not a great offensive team and the Warriors were not taking advantage of that. Golden State’s defensive effort was lacking and they were sending the Rockets to the line far too often.

On the bright side, Klay Thompson was great with 25 points in the first half. After the great start that the Warriors had this game had turned into a real shocker. Golden State would need to turn things around in the second half.

The Warriors got back on track and the Rockets youth and inexperience started to weight on Houston. They got sloppy and started missing shots partially due to the Warriors defensive effort. Golden State led after three quarters 97-94 and were twelve minutes away from their first road win.

The youngsters started the fourth quarter while Stephen Curry and Thompson sat out. The Rockets tied up the game at 104 with 6:59 left in the game. The Warriors had been really good from distance in this game and they also starting forcing a lot of Houston turnovers.

It was nice to see some Rocket turnovers since the Warriors had been having a heap of turnovers themselves in this game. With 2:35 left in the game the Warriors were clinging to a three point lead. Golden State hung on and the Warriors had their first road win 127-120. The drought had come to an end.

It was a banner night for Thompson who had his first thirty plus game of the season finishing with 41 points. He was 10 of 13 from downtown. Curry had 33 and Andrew Wiggins finished with 22. The young Rockets sure gave the Warriors a run for their money but came up short.

Monday night the Warriors will take on the New Orleans Pelicans in the Big Easy at Smoothie King Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:00 PM.