Houston Rockets down Golden State Warriors in Stephen Curry’s NBA return

LOS ANGELES – The visiting Houston Rockets spoilt Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry’s sparkling return from a 27-game injury absence, thwarting the hosts’ late rally for a 117-116 National Basketball Association (NBA) victory on April 5.

Curry came off the bench in his first game since Jan 30 and scored 29 points in 26 minutes.

He connected on 11 of 21 shots from the field, including five of 10 from three-point range.

Trailing by 10 points with less than five minutes remaining, the Warriors pulled within one on a Curry three-pointer with 57.4 seconds to play.

Gary Payton II then drove and was awarded a basket after a goaltend by Amen Thompson to put the hosts ahead 116-115.

Rockets centre Alperen Sengun answered with a lay-up, and when Curry could not get a final three-pointer to drop, the visitors came away with the win.

“We had the game in control, then they put No. 30 in the game,” Houston star Kevin Durant, winner of two NBA titles with the Warriors, said of Curry. “And he got back into it so easily. He makes shots so quickly and he looked incredible after a couple of months off.

“It was a tough one,” added the 37-year-old, who led all scorers with 31 points. “But it’s late in the season and both teams are looking to get ready for the play-offs. So it was a good test for us.”

The Rockets had pushed a two-point half-time lead to 15 with five minutes left in the third period before Curry, playing on a minutes restriction, spearheaded an 11-0 run that kept the Warriors within striking distance.

After the game, the Golden State veteran said that he expected a similar workload on April 7 against the Sacramento Kings. The Warriors will manage his game time with four games left in the regular season.

“Got to be smart and do the right thing for the right reasons,” the 38-year-old said. “All I’m looking forward to is Tuesday.”

The return of Curry, who said he originally expected to miss only a week of action after his knee injury, offered the Warriors a glimpse of what they can be as they prepare for the play-in tournament.

Golden State (36-42), 10th in the Western Conference, have a must-win game the following week in the play-ins against either the Los Angeles Clippers or Portland Trail Blazers.

“You can just feel it,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We’re back in the mix, we’re back in the fight with Steph.”

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers got a taste of just how hard it will be for them to maintain their position in the West, with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves out for at least the remainder of the regular season.

The Dallas Mavericks, powered by another sensational performance from rookie Cooper Flagg, beat the Lakers 134-128 to snap a 14-game home losing streak.

The 19-year-old – coming off a 51-point display in the loss to the Orlando Magic on April 3 that made him the first teenager to score 50 in an NBA game – delivered 45 points, eight rebounds and nine assists along with a pair of steals and a block.

Dallas burst out of the blocks against the depleted Lakers, who lost the league’s leading scorer Doncic (33.5 points per game) and offensive spark plug Reaves to injury.

In an attempt to move up his timeline for a return, the Slovenian will seek specialist treatment for his Grade 2 left hamstring strain in Europe, his representatives told ESPN.

Doncic limped off during the 139-96 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2. The typical recovery timeline for a Grade 2 hamstring strain is a month. With one week left in the regular season, that would keep the Lakers’ leader in assists (8.3 per game) and steals (1.6 per game) out for potentially the entire first-round series of the play-offs.

With four regular-season games left for each team, the Lakers (50-28) have the same record as the Denver Nuggets but hold the tiebreak for the No. 3 seed.

However, they could fall to fourth or even fifth in the final week, which would cost them home-court advantage. The fifth-placed Rockets (49-29), who have won six straight, are just a game behind.

The Lakers will host Oklahoma City, play at Golden State and then close the regular season with home games against the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz.

Against Dallas, LeBron James carried the load for the visitors with 30 points, nine rebounds and 15 assists.

“We didn’t start the game the right way and just played catch-up the rest of the game,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said, saying the Lakers’ inability to adjust led to “just a poor defensive night”. AFP, REUTERS