Rockets end road show of Warriors

HOUSTON— The Houston Rockets snapped the Golden State Warriors’ 14-game road winning streak on Saturday, thwarting the NBA champions’ comeback bid in a 116-108 victory at Toyota Center here. Chris Paul scored 33 points and James Harden added 22 in his return from injury for the Rockets, who outrebounded the Warriors, 46-33, and led by as many as 17 points in the second quarter.

HOUSTON— The Houston Rockets ended the Golden State Warriors’ 14-game road winning streak Saturday, thwarting the NBA champions’ comeback bid in an impressive 116-108 victory at Toyota Center.

Chris Paul (upper photo) scored 33 points and James Harden cemented his return from injury with 22 for the Rockets.

The Rockets outrebounded Golden state 46-33 and led by as many as 17 points in the second quarter en route to the win in a marquee match up of the league’s two highest-scoring teams.

“We had to get this win,” said Harden, who was supposed to be limited to less than 30 minutes of action in his second game back from a hamstring injury but played more than 34.

His step-back three-pointer with 1:10 left to play in the fourth helped sound the death knell, stretching the Rockets’ lead back to six points.

The Rockets, second in the Western Conference, improved to 17-0 this season when Harden, Paul and Capela are all active.

Although they battled back to lead by as many as four in a fourth quarter that saw six lead changes, the Warriors were ultimately undone by 19 turnovers.

Forward Kevin Durant led the Warriors with 26 points and Draymond Green added 21 points with seven rebounds.

Stephen Curry connected on just six of 20 shots from the field en route to 19 points.

In Cleveland, LeBron James’s bid to become the seventh player in NBA history—and the youngest at 33 years old—to reach 30,000 career points was thwarted and the Cavaliers found themselves looking at a milestone of a far different kind in a humbling 148-124 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

James scored 18 points, falling seven shy of the 30,000 plateau. The Cavaliers have now lost five of their last six games and nine of 12.

OTHER RESULTS: Minnesota 115, Toronto 109; Philadelphia 116, Milwaukee 94; Portland 117, Dallas 108; Utah 125, LA Clippers 113; Miami 106, Charlotte 105; NewOrleans 111, Memphis 104; Chicago 113, Atlanta 97