Warriors crush Rockets for sixth straight win

LOS ANGELES — The Golden State Warriors took their revenge against the Houston Rockets on Friday, overwhelming on both ends of the court with a 125-108 victory at the Toyota Center arena. Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant joined forces to power the offence while the rest of the crew made the defensive stops as the Warriors stretched their NBA winning streak to six games. The Warriors improved to an NBA-best 37-6 on the season and 17-3 on the road. “Three good teams in a row, we definitely wanted to come out and make a nice statement,” said Durant, who also had two steals and two blocks. “I think we did that. But we always can get better.” Durant finished with 32 points and seven assists while Curry chipped in 24 points and seven assists as Golden State surged ahead in the first quarter and never looked back. The game was a rematch of a Dec. 1 clash won by the Rockets in double overtime at Oracle Arena. Rockets guard James Harden finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and 11 assists. But Harden was zero-for-five from beyond the arc. The Warriors are not only punishing teams on offense but Friday they broke the Rockets down on defense by blocking seven shots and recording eight steals. “They obviously played better than we did and we didn’t shoot the ball well at all,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “And against a team like this, you have got to keep scoring.” The Warriors started quickly with a 10-0 run to the lead in the first quarter. Golden State took a 14-point lead midway through the second quarter before Harden returned to action and keyed another rally. But Curry managed to beat the buzzer with a three pointer that delivered the Warriors a 62-57 halftime lead. Golden State zapped the energy out of the Rockets in the third, opening the quarter with three layups. When Curry added back-to-back three-pointers, the Warriors led 87-67 and coasted to victory. Elsewhere, the Charlotte Hornets righted the ship Friday, putting a five-game losing streak behind them with a 113-78 rout of the Toronto Raptors. The Hornets outscored the Raptors 58-30 in the second half, leading by as many as 37 points despite resting most of their starters throughout the fourth quarter. It was their most-lopsided win of the season. Kemba Walker led the way with 32 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the field, including six of nine from three-point range. He didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter, with the Hornets facing back-to-back contests with Brooklyn coming to town on Saturday. “I got into one of them zones,” said Walker. “I mean, it just feels like you can make any shot. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. “When you are in that zone, you just kind of black out. You just try to stay aggressive and take the shots that you’ve been practicing, that you practice each and every day. Tonight was a good night for me.” Atlanta bounced back from a lopsided loss at Detroit two nights earlier by extending its dominance against Chicago with a 102-93 victory. The Hawks, who got off to a blistering shooting start, led by 29 points at halftime en route to extending their winning streak against the Bulls to six games. Dennis Schroder had 25 points and six assists as the Hawks won for the 10th time in their past 12 games. Elfrid Payton scored 20 points and added six assists in leading Orlando to a 112-96 victory over Milwaukee at the Amway Center. The Magic snapped a three-game losing streak. The Bucks lost their fourth consecutive game. The Magic had seven players finish in double figures when they dominated the second half and never were seriously challenged for the lead. Robert Covington’s 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds remaining lifted Philadelphia to a 93-92 victory over Portland the 76ers’ sixth victory in seven games and eighth in 10. Covington, who finished with 22 points, took a pass from T.J. McConnell and connected from the left wing. Portland’s Mason Plumlee then missed a layup in traffic at the buzzer as the Trail Blazers dropped their fourth straight game. Ersan Ilyasova scored a season-high 24 points for Philadelphia. Brook Lopez and Bojan Bogdanovich scored 23 points apiece as Brooklyn ended an 11-game losing streak by beating New Orleans 143-114 in the Smoothie King Center. Five teammates came off the bench to score in double figures for the Nets, who won for the first time since a 120-118 victory against Charlotte on Dec. 26. Spencer Dinwiddie was the third Brooklyn starter to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points. Rookie Caris LeVert led the Nets’ reserves with 17 points, Luis Scola scored 14 in eight fourth-quarter minutes, Quincy Acy and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson each had 12 and Randy Foye had 11. The Brooklyn bench outscored the New Orleans bench 73-47. Marc Gasol scored 28 points and Zach Randolph added 20 to lead Memphis to a 107-91 victory over Sacramento at FedExForum. Gasol, a candidate to make the NBA All-Star team as a reserve, and Randolph, a sixth man of the year candidate, helped the Grizzlies to a lopsided edge on the boards. Randolph had 10 rebounds to finish with a double-double and Gasol had nine. Tony Allen also chipped in with a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) for the Grizzlies. Rudy Gobert racked up career highs with 27 points and 25 rebounds, and Utah extended its winning streak to a season-high five by slipping by Dallas 112-107 in overtime at American Airlines Center. The Northwest Division-leading Jazz (28-16) had won four in a row three previous times this season but had failed to get to five until beating Dallas for the third time in three tries. Utah is also sneaking up the Western Conference standings, drawing within a game of the Los Angeles for fourth place. Lou Williams scored a game-high 27 points and Los Angeles ended a five-game skid with a 108-96 victory over Indiana at Staples Center. Julius Randle scored 16 points and Brandon Ingram and Nick Young added 15 points apiece for the Lakers. Jordan Clarkson chipped in 12 points for Los Angeles. Paul George had 21 points to lead the Pacers, who had won seven of their previous eight games. Al Jefferson scored all 20 of his points in the first half for Indiana, which lost for the first time at Staples in four games. Indiana center Myles Turner contributed 15 points. — Agencies