After a disappointing loss against the struggling Los Angeles Lakers in their first hame back after the NBA All Star break, Houston got back on track as they defeated Golden State in Oakland despite James Harden’s absence.
Harden was unable to play on Saturday night due to the flu and a sore neck.
Despite playing without the NBA’s scoring leader and MVP front-runner, Chris Paul and Eric Gordon led the Rockets’ offensive attack, which propelled them to a win over the Western Conference leaders.
Paul had an excellent game that was reminiscent of some of the most masterful performances of his career. He scored 23 points and also distributed 17 assists.
Gordon added 25 more points of his own, while Kenneth Faried and PJ Tucker finished with double-doubles. Faried scored 20 points and Tucker scored 18. Both gathered 10 rebounds for Houston.
The Rockets simply outscored the Warriors, who also enjoyed standout offensive performances from their usual suspects of Kevin Durant (29 points) and Steph Curry (25 points, 5 three-pointers).
The loss was only the 8th of the season for Golden State at Oracle Arena.
Houston, now in 5th place in the West, returns to action against Atlanta on Monday night. Golden State, now with a 1.5 game lead over Denver for first place in the conference, travels to New Orleans on Monday.
