Stephen Curry carries Jimmy Butler-less Warriors to pivotal Game 3 win
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Stephen Curry rediscovered his shooting touch as the Golden State Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets 104-93 on Saturday night to take a 2-1 lead in their playoff series. Despite missing Jimmy Butler, Curry led the charge with an impressive stat line of 36 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds.

Playoff Steph delivered while Playoff Jimmy became his biggest cheerleader on the bench — in a full-length fur coat.

Buddy Hield had 17 points off the bench with five 3-pointers as the Warriors won their sixth straight Game 3 in the opening round.

Gary Payton II scored 11 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter.

Game 4 in the best-of-seven series is Monday night at Chase Center. The biggest question will be whether Butler can heal in time to contribute.

The Warriors missed their do-everything forward after he suffered a pelvic injury and deep gluteal muscle contusion in a hard fall during Game 2.

Houston’s Fred VanVleet made an early impact by scoring the Rockets’ first nine points with back-to-back 3-pointers and a three-point play, finishing the game with 17 points. Alperen Sengun also contributed with 15 points and 11 rebounds in a solid performance for the Rockets.

Curry has 4,053 career playoff points and passed Tony Parker (4,045) for 10th most in NBA history.

Though Curry struggled with his shooting in the beginning, missing his first three 3-point attempts, he eventually found his rhythm and scored 13 points in the second quarter. This strong performance helped the Warriors narrow the gap to 49-46 at halftime after being down by 13 earlier in the game.

Dillon Brooks fouled out with 3:47 left a day after he defended Amen Thompson’s foul on Butler that led to the injury and called Draymond Green a “dirty” player.

Thompson, Brooks and all the Rockets were booed during pregame introductions.

Then Brooks fouled Curry 11 seconds into the game. He picked up his second foul at the 5:24 mark of the first quarter, delighting the crowd. The fans were equally thrilled when Sengun drove to the basket and badly missed when trying for a one-handed slam late in the first. Brooks had four fouls by halftime.

The Warriors had lost three straight at home over the final week of the regular season, beating Memphis in a play-in game that doesn’t count in that record.

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