HOUSTON – Stephen Curry dazzled from long range and drove to the hoop from every angle with fire and flair, scoring 24 points before tweaking his ankle as the Golden State Warriors beat the Houston Rockets 104-78 on Saturday in their playoff opener.
Draymond Green added 12 points and 10 rebounds as top-seeded Golden State carried momentum from setting the all-time wins record Wednesday night with No. 73 into a testy playoff opener some 60 hours later.
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The Warriors topped the Michael Jordan-led Bulls of 1995-96 then immediately made one thing clear: That mark will mean nothing if they don't bring home back-to-back titles to the East Bay.
James Harden scored 17 points for cold-shooting Houston, held to six field goals in the first quarter of the rematch from last year's Western Conference finals, won by Golden State in five.
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Monday night at Oracle Arena.