Stephen Curry shook, shimmied and screamed, letting his adoring fans and the Houston Rockets know that Oracle Arena was his house.
Once the two-time Most Valuable Player got his groove back, Houston were helpless.
Curry on Sunday scored 35 points with five three-pointers, shooting over James Harden and driving past him as the Golden State Warriors made a second-half statement to beat the Houston Rockets 126-85 for a 2-1 series lead in the Western Conference Finals.
Photo: Kyle Terada-USA Today
Curry scored 18 points on seven-for-seven shooting in the third quarter, lying with his back flat on the court for his unique version of a snow angel and even following one basket with an expletive, shouting “This is my fucking house” to the thousands who cheered and exhaled, exhilarated by his every move and rumble.
“There’s obviously that anticipation when you come in transition, and you find an open look and there’s a collective hush in the crowd, especially in this building,” Curry said. “It’s a cool moment. I was searching for it in the first half. I had plenty of opportunities, I just couldn’t knock it down. Third quarter it opened up. I’ve been doing it for a while. I won’t let two tough games shooting keep me frustrated.”
The 41-point victory was the largest in franchise history during the post-season, topping a 39-point win — 85-46 — by the Philadelphia Warriors against the St Louis Bombers on April 6, 1948.
Kevin Durant added 25 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Draymond Green grabbed 17 rebounds to go with 10 points and six assists.
The Warriors won an NBA-record 16th consecutive home post-season game, surpassing the Chicago Bulls’ mark of 15 in a row from April 27, 1990 to May 21, 1991.
“We’re in the middle of a hell of a run, obviously,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.
The defending champions got defensive — and maybe a little mad — after a 127-105 Game 2 defeat on Wednesday last week in Houston, Texas, determined to make stops to ignite the transition game and open up three-point shooters.
Especially Curry, who snapped out of his slump with four in the second half.
“I’ve seen those explosions happen everywhere, not just here,” Green said. “His three is similar to some people’s dunk. You go to certain arenas and a guy gets a dunk it’s just absurd. That’s how his three ball is... Don’t mean to disappoint, but I’ve seen crazier from him.”
Harden had 20 points and nine assists, while Chris Paul added 13 points and 10 rebounds as they combined to shoot just 12 for 32.
“Offensively, we didn’t have any thrust and they exploited it,” Harden said.
Game 4 is today at the Oracle Arena.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite