By ASSOCIATED PRESS
HOUSTON (AP) — Stephen Curry scored 27 points and the Golden State Warriors withstood a late surge by the Houston Rockets for a 105-98 victory Thursday night, Feb. 13.
The Warriors were clinging to a two-point lead before using a 11-2 run to make it 102-91 with about two minutes remaining. A highlight of that spurt came when Curry juked Jeff Green before swishing a 3-pointer and Jimmy Butler wowed the visitor’s bench with a two-handed dunk about a minute later.
Golden State led by as many as 24, and frustrated with the poor performance of his starters, Houston coach Ime Udoka benched Jalen Green, Alperen Sengun and Dillon Brooks to start the fourth quarter. The team’s backups keyed a 16-6 run that cut the lead to 88-86 with seven minutes left.
Nate Williams, who was playing in just his sixth game this season, had seven points in that stretch.
Udoka never re-inserted the three starters. Aaron Holiday led the Rockets by tying a career high with 25 points as Houston lost for the seventh time in nine games.
Butler has played well in his first few games with Golden State and should only get more comfortable with his new team after the break.
Houston’s stars must play better after the break if the team wants to stay in contention in the Western Conference and make the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Meanwhile in Salt Lake City, Norman Powell scored a season-high 41 points and James Harden added 32 to lift the Los Angeles Clippers to a 120-116 overtime victory over the Utah Jazz.
Harden also had 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Los Angeles clawed back from a 20-point deficit and beat Utah for the second time in three games.
The Clippers never trailed in overtime of Ben Simmons’ debut, but did not pull away from the Jazz until Powell made back-to-back baskets to put them up 119-114 with 59 seconds remaining.
Kyle Filipowski led Utah with a career-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. Lauri Markkanen also scored 20 points and John Collins chipped in 17.
In Minneapolis, Naz Reid had 27 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for the short-handed Minnesota Timberwolves in a 116-101 victory over Oklahoma City that stopped the Thunder’s seven-game winning streak.
Anthony Edwards scored 23 points and Jaden McDaniels added 21 points to propel the Wolves (31-25) into the All-Star break with an inspired performance against the West-leading Thunder (44-10) behind a small-ball strategy necessitated by the absence of their usual starting frontcourt.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 24 points, nine assists and eight rebounds to lead the Thunder after shooting 2 for 13 in the first half.
In Dallas, Dante Exum scored a season-high 27 points, one short of his career high, and the Mavericks beat the Miami Heat, 118-113.
Max Christie added 19 points, Spencer Dinwiddie had 17 and Kessler Edwards finished with season highs of 15 points and nine rebounds as the undermanned, undersized Mavericks swept a home back-to-back and won for the fourth time in five games.
Tyler Herro scored 40 points for the Heat, who were swept in a road back-to-back and have lost four consecutive games. Rookie Kel’el Ware had 17 points and Kyle Anderson added 15 points and 10 rebounds.
In New Orleans, CJ McCollum scored 37 of his 43 points after halftime — including 11 points in overtime — and the Pelicans snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 140-133 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
Jose Alvarado and Trey Murphy III each scored 18 points for New Orleans, which beat Sacramento for the first time in four meetings. Reserves Jordan Hawkins and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl each scored 16 points, while Karlo Matkovic added a career-high 13 points and blocked three shots.
