Curry’s Exit Left a Scoring Gap Houston Was Ready to Punish

Golden State had finally made Houston uncomfortable when the Rockets supplied the answer that shaped the night. The Warriors narrowed an 88-79 deficit to 88-85 early in the fourth quarter, only for Houston to restore control with an Amen Thompson alley-oop and two long-range makes by Reed Sheppard. The margin reached 96-85, and the Warriors were back to searching for offense without Stephen Curry.

Houston defeated Golden State 115-108 on Wednesday, ending the Warriors’ eight-game winning streak. Curry played six minutes, scored three points and left during the opening quarter because of soreness on the right side of his abdomen. He did not return.

There was no diagnosis or announcement about his next game, so the fair judgment belongs to this performance: Golden State had enough scoring to stay attached, but not enough to answer Houston every time the Rockets pushed back.

Yaxel Lendeborg gave the Warriors considerably more than a replacement performance. The rookie produced 25 points and 10 rebounds, repeatedly keeping Golden State within reach. Brandin Podziemski added 22 points, six rebounds and four assists. Those were sturdy contributions against a Houston team that held the lead for 97 percent of the contest.

They also exposed the problem. Lendeborg and Podziemski combined for 47 points, yet Golden State still finished with 108 after entering the night averaging 120.4. The issue was not that every Warrior stopped scoring. It was that the team’s best rallies lacked a dependable second act once Houston answered the first one.

Podziemski supplied a particularly sharp example. His 3-pointer and ensuing free throw helped produce a 6-0 burst that brought Golden State within five at 96-91. Houston did not let the game stay there. Sheppard hit another 3-pointer, and Fred VanVleet followed with one of his own. The Rockets had rebuilt their advantage to 102-91 before the Warriors could create another serious chase.

That sequence explains why Curry’s absence mattered beyond his three points. A player who entered Wednesday averaging 30.6 points a night was gone almost immediately, removing the scorer most capable of turning a narrow gap into a lead. Golden State’s substitutes and supporting starters still made shots, but Houston could meet each rally with a different source.

The Warriors were asking two productive players to keep solving a problem that kept changing shape.

Houston’s offense had more room for error because its scoring was distributed without becoming aimless. Kevin Durant finished with 20 points, while Alperen Sengun supplied 19 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. Thompson also scored 19, and VanVleet added 18 on four 3-pointers.

Sheppard’s 13 points included three shots from beyond the arc, with his fourth-quarter shooting arriving at precisely the point when Golden State had begun to believe the deficit was manageable.

The Rockets also created separation closer to the basket. They shot 44 for 87 overall, compared with Golden State’s 36 for 88, and won the points-in-the-paint battle 50-34. Sengun’s passing helped set up Thompson’s finish during Houston’s 8-0 response, while Sheppard’s shooting stretched the floor on the possessions that followed.

None of that requires pretending the Rockets were flawless; it does explain why their lead survived the Warriors’ best efforts.

Golden State did keep coming. Podziemski’s four-point play cut the deficit to five, and late baskets from LJ Cryer, Charles Bassey and Graham Ike made the final margin look less comfortable than Houston’s control had been for most of the night. The Warriors finished 17 for 51 from 3-point range, so their late shots could make the scoreboard respectable without changing the central problem.

The Rockets’ first fourth-quarter burst was not the final blow by itself. Golden State answered with six straight, and Houston then responded again with the Sheppard-VanVleet 3-pointers that made it 102-91. That exchange was the sharper warning for the Warriors: their offense could generate a rally, but Houston had enough scoring and enough interior production to make the rally temporary.

Lendeborg’s 25 and Podziemski’s 22 keep this from being a story about a team simply folding after its star departed. Golden State fought its way back more than once. Houston won because every close approach demanded another answer, and the Rockets kept producing one.

The eight-game streak ended with Curry sidelined early, but the lasting concern is the gap that opened afterward: when the Warriors needed one more scorer to turn pressure into control, Houston was ready with the next burst.

Sources

ESPN: final game record and play-by-play

Associated Press via ESPN: game reporting

NBA: Wednesday official injury report