Aaron Brooks orchestrated a balanced Rockets offense with 18 points and 12 assists, as Houston spoiled Golden State's season opener with a 108-107 decision at ORACLE Arena.
Trevor Ariza notched 25 points, and Luis Scola chipped in 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who dropped a 96-87 decision to Portland in their season opener on Tuesday.
"It's a very big win because of that," Scola said referring to playing on back-to-back nights. "It's difficult to get wins in the first games of the season on the road. It was a huge win, but we've got to keep going."
Chase Budinger scored eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter to help pull out the win.
Monta Ellis had a team-high 26 points for the Warriors, which missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season in 2008-09. Stephen Jackson added 17 points, and Kelenna Azubuike netted 13 in the loss.
Stephen Curry, the seventh-overall pick in the 2009 Draft, finished with 14 points and seven assists in his NBA debut.
The Rockets came out in the third quarter and hit their first 11 shots from the field, sparked by back-to-back three-pointers from Scola and Brooks, respectively.
Ariza's jumper with 5 1/2 minutes left in the third gave the Rockets a 77-71 lead, which held up, 87-81, heading to the final stanza.
"I don't want to get specific or call names but we made a bunch of turnovers," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "We also didn't find the open man and made defensive errors. We didn't have an answer for Scola tonight and we didn't really want to space our defense too much so we didn't double team him. I thought our big guys could handle him but he had a big night against us."
Golden State stayed within striking distance in the fourth, but Ariza hit a three and Carl Landry hit a pullup jumper for a 104-95 Houston lead with five minutes left.
Consecutive Curry baskets a little later cut the deficit to 108-103 with under two minutes to play. Scola missed a pair of free throws with 1:34 remaining, and neither team scored until Curry's bucket made it a one-possession affair with 29.1 seconds left.
Golden State decided not to foul, and Brooks was forced into a traveling violation with 6.6 seconds remaining. Anthony Morrow ended up taking the potential three between a pair of Rockets defenders and was off the mark from the top of the key.
Curry's basket in the final second proved meaningless.
The Warriors led, 28-26, after the opening frame despite 14 points from Ariza.
The game remained close until the Warriors drained three from behind the arc just before intermission. Jackson started a 14-2 run with a trifecta, and Anthony Randolph hit one from deep just before the buzzer for a 62-52 edge.
Game Notes
A few rules are needed to help foster a feeling of community. We encourage a free and open exchange of ideas in a climate of mutual respect, but any post that violates someone's right to use and enjoy fresnobee.com is prohibited. Before you post, please read the terms of use and obey these simple guidelines.
Here are the ground rules:
Contents of this site are © Copyright The Fresno Bee. All rights reserved.
E-Mail
Print
@Nyx.CommentBody@