Stephen Curry returned from a two-month absence with 29 points, but Alperen Sengun capped a 24-point performance with a go-ahead interior hoop with 11.1 seconds remaining, lifting the Houston Rockets to a 117-116 victory over the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco yesterday (Philippine time).
In his first return to San Francisco as a member of the Rockets, Kevin Durant poured in a game-high 31 points for Houston (49-29), which moved within one game of the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets in their three-team duel for third place in the Western Conference.
Brandin Podziemski backed Curry with 18 points for the Warriors (36-42).
Sengun’s four-footer from the middle of the key came after Golden State had used a 17-6 burst to overtake the visitors on a Gary Payton II layup with 19.6 seconds remaining.
Golden State had a shot after the Sengun hoop, but Curry misfired under heavy pressure from 30 feet, capping a 5-for-10 effort from three-point range.
Jabari Smith, Jr. had 23 points, Amen Thompson 18 and Reed Sheppard 11 for the Rockets, who won their sixth straight. Durant also found time for a team-high eight assists and eight rebounds, one shy of Smith’s nine for team honors in both categories.
Curry, who had missed 27 straight games, played 26 minutes, during which he hit 11 of his 21 shots. The Warriors had gone 9-18 in his 27 absences as he recovered from a sore right knee.
Gui Santos finished with 15 points and Payton 14 for the Warriors, who saw Kristaps Porzingis foul out with just nine points and a team-high eight rebounds after 23 minutes. Draymond Green collected a game-high 12 assists to go with seven points.
Up by 15 points in the third, the Rockets clung to a 109-99 advantage after a Thompson three-point play on a dunk before Curry nearly led a remarkable late comeback.
He assisted a Payton layup, buried a 28-footer and, a minute later, found Payton for another layup that closed the gap to 112-109 with 1:55 left.
Curry then made it a one-point game with a layup at the 1:27 mark, and once again when he countered a three-point play by Sengun with a 32-footer at the other end with 57.8 seconds to go.
After a Durant miss, Payton turned a Green assist into a 116-115 Warriors lead with 19.6 seconds left, setting up Sengun’s heroics. (Field Level Media / Reuters)