The Houston Rockets will meet the Golden State Warriors tonight in Oakland, California. The game will be live streamed free online on ESPN.com at 10:30 PM ET.
Golden State will look for a quicker start Friday night when it tries to avenge its worst loss of the season against Houston.
The Warriors (13-10) have been outscored by an average of 11.6 points in the first halves of their last five games, scoring just 43.8 per contest in the first two quarters. However, they're 3-2 in that span, including Wednesday's 95-93 home win over Dallas. They trailed by as many as 18 late in the second quarter before Steph Curry took over late. He scored 16 of his 33 points in the final period, including the go-ahead jumper with three seconds remaining.
"He's a great player and an all-time great shooter," coach Mark Jackson said of Curry, who also had 10 assists. "I've seen Steph Curry every single day take that shot hundreds and hundreds of times, thousands of times, so when the curtains open up you expect it to go in."
Golden State, which is 7-2 at home, hasn't always been able to recover from its early deficits, however. The Warriors trailed 61-37 at halftime of their 105-83 defeat at Houston on Dec. 6, their 18th loss in the last 21 meetings.
Jackson's club shot a season-low 35.5 percent from the field while the Rockets blocked nine shots and had a season-high 14 steals. Curry scored 22 but was 5 of 14 from the field and accounted for eight of his team's 22 turnovers.
The Rockets (15-8) won't be fresh after dropping their second straight road game, 111-104 in Portland on Thursday. However, they're 4-1 on the second night of back-to-backs this season.
Dwight Howard finished with 32 points -- one shy of his season high -- and 17 rebounds, but Houston gave up a 52-48 rebounding advantage and allowed 15 offensive rebounds for the second straight contest. It marked just the fifth time the Rockets -- who own the league's best rebounding margin at plus-6.3 -- have been outrebounded.
"They made some big plays down the stretch," Howard said. "It seemed like every time we would close the gap, they came down and got a great shot. This was big for them."
James Harden, who scored 34 points on 13-of-22 shooting in last week's win, is averaging 28.0 points over his last six contests. Howard had 22 points and 18 rebounds against the Warriors.
