Curry leads Warriors to Rockets win
Golden State star outscores Harden in repeat of conference finals, James’ Cavaliers beat Heat
Golden State won 112-92 at Houston on Friday in a reprise of last season’s NBA Western Conference finals, with Stephen Curry leading the Warriors and getting the better of Rockets star James Harden.
Curry outscored Harden 25-16 and got the win again, just as he did in the 2014-15 MVP vote and in the Warriors’ five-game victory that sent them to the NBA Finals.
Elsewhere, Russell Westbrook sank a long-range tying basket and scored 48 points as Oklahoma City beat Orlando in an overtime thriller, LeBron James led Cleveland over his old team Miami in the Cavaliers’ home opener, and Detroit continued their perfect start with an overtime win against Chicago.
Golden State improved to 2-0 and the Rockets fell to 0-2 after a clash of two teams again expected to challenge as best in the West.
Harden struggled with his shot for a second straight game. The MVP runner-up finished four of 18, including one of 10 from threepoint range.
Dwight Howard had nine points and seven rebounds for Houston in his first game after serving a onegame suspension for getting a fourth flagrant foul in the postseason.
Oklahoma City’s Westbrook banked in a three-pointer from just inside half-court at the end of regulation time, and the Thunder went on to defeat Orlando 139-136.
Westbrook, who had 14 points in the extra periods, added 11 rebounds and eight assists, while Kevin Durant had 43 points and 12 rebounds for the Thunder.
Orlando had a chance to tie it with six seconds to play, but twice had three-point attempts blocked.
Oklahoma City trailed by as many as 18, but outscored the Magic 42-24 in the fourth quarter.
Tobias Harris led the Magic with 30 points.
Cleveland beat the Heat 102-92, with James scoring 29 points against his former team.
James, who said he is capable of playing in all 82 games this season, showed no signs of the back troubles that side-lined him in training camp. He shot 13 of 19 from the field, had five rebounds and four assists in 34 minutes.
Kevin Love added 24 points and 14 rebounds for the Cavaliers.
James’ old teammates Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh led Miami with 25 and 16 points respectively.
Detroit improved to 3-0 for the first time in seven years after a 98-94 win against Chicago.
Marcus Morris scored 26 points and Andre Drummond had 20 points and 20 rebounds for the Pistons, who scored the first seven points of overtime.
Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with 23 points while Derrick Rose did not score until the fourth quarter and finished with just eight points.
Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns had 28 points and 14 rebounds as the Timberwolves beat Denver 95-78.
Andrew Wiggins overcame back soreness to add 18 points for the Timberwolves, who have been playing with heavy hearts since long-time coach Flip Saunders died Sunday after complications from Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Emmanuel Mudiay scored 15 points for the Nuggets.
San Antonio regrouped after a sluggish start and comfortably beat Brooklyn 102-75.
Kawhi Leonard had 16 points and Tim Duncan added 15 for the Spurs.
Brook Lopez had 17 points to lead Brooklyn.