Steph Curry’s Golden State continue 10-year NBA ‘torture’ of the Rockets

Houston’s dreams of snapping a decade-long NBA drought against the Warriors went up in flames in game seven at home.

The Golden State Warriors punched their ticket to the second round of the NBA playoffs on Monday (AEST), shaking off two straight defeats to grab a 103-89 game seven victory over the Houston Rockets.

The Warriors were the last team to advance to the conference semi-finals, which got under way earlier in the day with the Indiana Pacers handing the Eastern Conference top seeds Cleveland a 121-112 defeat on their home floor.

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Golden State continued its mastery of the Rockets, now winning all five playoff series they have contested during the Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr and Draymond Green era.

On a Warriors team stacked with post-season experience, Buddy Hield – playing just his 11th playoff game – drilled nine three-pointers from 11 attempts on the way to a game-high 33 points.

Curry scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter as the Warriors finally frustrated the second-seeded Rockets, who were coming off two dominant victories and had visions of becoming just the 14th team to rally from 3-1 down to win an NBA playoff series.

“A lot of resilience,” Curry said. “Everybody stepping up. Everybody’s been talking about our team the last two games in terms of our execution, our energy, all that.

Stephen Curry struggled offensively in the first half. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

“We blocked it all out and just understood we had 48 minutes to dig deep. Everybody contributed.”

Senior ESPN NBA writer Tim Bontemps said of the domination: “There aren’t many players who have tortured one fan base in the way Stephen Curry has done so to the Rockets over the years. It’s been a solid decade of this at this point.”

The Warriors lined up a second-round clash with the Minnesota Timberwolves, who ousted LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.

Curry’s first basket was a three-pointer with 33.3 seconds left in the first half.

But Hield was on fire, making six three-pointers on the way to 22 first-half points and Draymond Green added 10 points to help the Warriors to a 51-39 halftime lead.

They pushed the lead to as many as 15 before the Rockets battled back, cutting their deficit to three.

Curry still had a huge contribution in the end. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images via AFP)

Amen Thompson scored 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Alperen Sengun scored 21 with 14 rebounds for the Rockets, but Houston made just six three-pointers and trailed 70-62 going into the fourth quarter.

That’s when Curry came alive, opening the final frame with five straight points.

Mid-season signing Jimmy Butler had six points in a 12-0 Warriors run that took their lead to 20 points with 2:31 remaining.

Butler finished with 20 points and Curry said his arrival from Miami in February was key to Golden State’s late playoff push.

“For us to build chemistry on the fly and build trust on the fly and perform like we did in a game seven, it means the world,” Curry said.

“So mission accomplished – step one.”

Buddy Hield had an outstanding night for the Warriors. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

In Cleveland, Andrew Nembhard drilled five of Indiana’s 19 three-pointers on the way to a team-high 23 points and Tyrese Haliburton scored 22 points and handed out 13 assists for the Pacers, who had six players score in double figures.

“I thought we did a great job of starting the game the right way,” said Haliburton, who delivered the game-winner in the 119-118 overtime triumph that clinched the Pacers’ first-round victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Pascal Siakam scored 10 of his 17 points in the first quarter as Indiana took a 36-25 lead.

The Pacers overcame a 33-point performance from Cavs star Donovan Mitchell and 17 turnovers of their own that led to 22 Cleveland points.

Tyrese Haliburton led the way for the Pacers in Game 1. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

The turnovers helped Cleveland claw back from a 12-point deficit early in the third, taking a one-point lead on Evan Mobley’s hook shot with 3:16 left in the period.

Mobley added 20 points and 10 rebounds, but the Cavaliers clearly missed All-Star point guard Darius Garland, who missed a third straight game with a sprained toe.

They couldn’t respond as Indiana put together a 15-4 scoring run to pull away again in the fourth quarter.

“We weathered the storm,” Haliburton said.

“We did it by getting stops, getting out running and just playing Pacers basketball.”

Originally published as Steph Curry’s Golden State continue 10-year NBA ‘torture’ of the Rockets