Rockets rout Warriors by 21

Posted: November 15, 2018 -- 11:24 p.m.

HOUSTON, TX -- Toyota Center

The Houston Rockets dispatched a seemingly fragile Golden State Warriors club 107-86 Thursday night.

"We're banged up a little bit, physically," said Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr after the game. "And, right now, we're banged up spiritually. There's no getting around that. So, we have to fill up our cup. Get our spirit back and our energy back, and we're going to."

The Warriors played the game without Steph Curry. Curry is dealing with a left groin strain. In addition to Curry's injury, the Warriors are in the middle of the Draymond Green / Kevin Durant kerfuffle.

Golden State has lost three of its past five games after starting the season 10-1.

But, Thursday night's 21 point win is about the Houston Rockets. The last time the Rockets defeated the Warriors by 20 or more points was a 22-point win at Toyota Center on December 6, 2013.

The Rockets began the game slowly and trailed 8-1 and 15-8 early. However, a quick 11-2 burst put the Rockets ahead 19-17; and, Houston never trailed the rest of the ball game.

Neither team shot the ball well in the first quarter: Houston shot 34.8% (8 for 23) from the floor while the Warriors were slightly better shooting 40.0% (8 for 20).

Houston led 25-19 after the first quarter.

The Rockets struggled to make field goal attempts in the second quarter as well: 38.1% (8 for 21). Despite the Warriors shooting 47.1% (8 for 17) in the quarter, both teams scored 22 points in the second stanza.

Houston led 47-41 at halftime.

James Harden heated up in the third quarter with 12 points on 3 for 5 field goal shooting (2 for 4 from three); and, rookie forward Gary Clark scored nine points in the quarter on 3 for 4 three-point shooting. Clark and Harden combined to scored 21 of Houston's 29 points in the third quarter.

Clark was questionable to play in tonight's game due to a sore hip; however, he said he's been in worse pain before. He did not doubt he'd play tonight -- especially, with family members in attendance.

"I mean, I've been through worse pain," Clark said after the game. "From the last two years of my college career, I pretty much played in pain so for me to have a little hip bruise, it wasn't going to stop me."

Harden describes Clark as solid; and, Harden sees Clark has gotten over his nervousness from the first two games of the season.

"He's solid on both ends of the floor," Harden said of Clark. He's always ready to catch and shoot as you've seen tonight; and, he just works hard. First couple of games he was just so nervous, I can tell in his face he didn't want to make a mistake. Now tonight, you can just see it from the confidence level, from blocking shots, to just running the floor, to rebounding the ball, offensive rebounds. Just the way he plays and that's what we need from him."

The Rockets led by as much as 17 points in the third period before taking a 13 points lead (76-63) into the fourth period.

The Warriors' Klay Thompson scored the first two points of the fourth quarter; however, the Rockets exploded with a 21-2 to lead 97-65 with 6:06 left in the ball game.

Rockets' forward James Ennis III scored 13 of his season-high 19 points during the 21-2 outburst. Ennis scored two lay-ups;; two three-point shots; and made three free throws to help the Rockets blow the game wide open.

Over the past two games, he is averaging 17.5 points per game on 68.4% shooting (4-10 3FGs) after having a total of 7 points on 2-of-14 shooting (1-9 3FGs) the three games prior. The 19 points marks the fourth highest total of Ennis' career.

Houston cruised to the win and has won 6 of 8 ball games.

The Rockets outscored the Warriors 60-45 in the second half.

With the win, Houston improves to 7-7.

"What's our record?" Chris Paul asked after the game. ".500, I don't know. In this league, it could change week to week. Just a couple of weeks ago, our story was ‘we was in trouble’. We're back to .500; so, we'll see what happens now."

The Rockets' next game is Saturday, November 17, at home, versus the Sacramento Kings. Game time is 7 p.m.

NOTES:

Rookie Gary Clark had 9 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks while hitting 3 threes off the bench. The only other Rockets rookie to post those numbers in a single game since the 2001-02 season.

Clint Capela recorded his ninth double-double of the season with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, including 4 offensive. He has scored in double-figures in a career-best 13 straight games. Capela has 59 offensive rebounds in the 14 games this season, which is the highest total by a Rocket through the team's first 14 games of a season since Charles Barkley had 65 in 1996-97.

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