Steph Curry makes dominance look easy as Warriors beat Rockets

Truthfully, there wasn’t much of a narrative arc to the Golden State Warriors 125-109 victory over the Houston Rockets. The Warriors were expected to win because they’re the better team. When the game started, they looked like the better team.

They led by two points after one quarter, but felt in control. They led by 17 at halftime. The lead ebbed and flowed in the second half, never getting so big that it felt like a blowout, but never getting so close that the Dubs felt in danger of losing it.

It was just a solid, straightforward win.

So since the game itself wasn’t particularly interesting, let’s switch up the recap format, and just offer up some interesting nuggets from the game.

• Somehow, some way, Steph Curry is still finding new ways to impress us all. Curry continues to make dominance look easy, and this time it came in the form of 38 points on 13-for-21 shooting, including 8-for-15 from distance. He also had 8 rebounds 5 assists, and did stuff like this:

• Curry also had 23 points in the third quarter alone. Yeesh.

• The Warriors had an incredibly special guest PA announcer: Aaron “Showtime” Taylor, whom the team had discovered doing play-by-play during one of their many trips to San Quentin. Williams did a phenomenal job, and you should read Marcus Thompson II’s article on him. What an inspiration.

• After a rough patch of games, Jordan Poole returned in a huge way, and was a legitimate difference maker. He poured in 21 points in just 25 minutes, while shooting 8-for-11 and registering 4 assists and 3 steals. He looked magnificent and fully in control.

• Speaking of bench contributions, the Dubs got a lot of them. Kevon Looney was solid defensively, and his +16 plus-minus led the team. Mychal Mulder got a lot of playing time with Kelly Oubre Jr. out, and responded with 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting. Juan Toscano-Anderson made numerous big plays on both ends of the court, and finished with 8 points on 3-for-4 shooting, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block.
• Andrew Wiggins had his best game in a while, with 25 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks.
• Now for the bad. James Wiseman appeared to injure his knee attempting a dunk in the second quarter, and did not return. He was headed for the MRI machine.

It wasn’t the cleanest performance, but the Warriors were strong throughout. And a win is a win is a win, and they needed one of those.