Warriors at Rockets
The Golden State Warriors are trying to stay in the No. 6 spot in the Western Conference. The Houston Rockets, who host the Warriors on Sunday, are the biggest challengers to that slot. The Rockets have had their way with Golden State recently and have taken the first two of a seven-game homestand. The Warriors were crushed at home by the Chicago Bulls on Friday and are 7-13 over their last 20 games.
Golden State needs to finish with a better record than the Rockets because Houston already has clinched the tiebreaker between the teams by taking each of the first three meetings. The Rockets put on a historic display the last time the Warriors visited, matching an NBA record with 23 3-pointers in a 140-109 drubbing on Feb. 5. Golden State looked like it was turning things around with strong defensive efforts in back-to-back wins but was run off the court by the Bulls as Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson struggled from the outside.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSBA (Golden State), CSH (Houston)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (37-30): Golden State had dreams of home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs a little over a month ago. Now the Warriors are just trying to hang onto a spot. The stumbles hit a low point on Friday, when they fell behind by as much as 35 points in the fourth quarter before suffering a 113-95 loss to the Bulls. That left them with a 4-3 record on their seven-game homestand instead of the five or six wins they were hoping would leave them in a better spot in advance of the three-game road trip that begins on Sunday. Golden State has lost four straight and nine of its last 10 on the road, beginning with that 140-109 setback in Houston. The Warriors made it more respectable in two subsequent meetings, falling to the Rockets at home 116-107 on Feb. 12 and 94-88 on March 8. Curry and Thompson came into Friday averaging a combined 38.8 points but were held to 15 on 5-of-22 shooting, including 0-of-9 from beyond the arc. Curry is shooting 40.4 percent in the three meetings with Houston while Thompson has been slightly better at 45.7 percent.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (36-30): Houston is fighting off the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz for the No. 7 spot in the West and is hoping to do what Golden State could not by dominating its homestand. After easily dispatching two of the worst teams in the West in Phoenix and Minnesota over the first two games, the Rockets will see four playoff contenders over the last five. James Harden has been battling a foot injury but started and played 43 minutes on Friday, going off for 37 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in the 108-100 triumph over the Timberwolves. The All-Star guard went a combined 10-of-39 from the field in the last two games against the Warriors but still managed to reach 20 points in each by going 22-of-25 from the free throw line.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Rockets have taken five straight and eight of the last nine in the series.
2. Curry had a streak of 53 straight games with at least one 3-pointer come to an end on Friday, when he went 0-of-5 from beyond the arc.
3. Golden State F David Lee leads the league with 43 double-doubles. Houston C Omer Asik has 28.