HOUSTON — The Warriors blew a 31-point lead and looked completely out of sorts in the fourth quarter, only to ultimately hold on.
Facing an upstart Rockets team led by Alperen Sengun and Jalen Green, Golden State hit 12 of its first 20 3-pointers and played smothering defense.
But as dominant as they were in the first half, they collapsed just as hard in the second.
Ball pressure gave Warriors dribblers constant trouble. Offensive possessions became ugly. Houston’s 3-point shots started to fall — just like the Warriors’ did in the first half.
And when they could have sealed the game in regulation, the Warriors gave up a 3 and Draymond Green threw away an inbounds pass. Tari Eason sent the game to overtime with two free throws on a foul that ended Green’s night.
Even though Green had fouled out, and Brandin Podziemski joined him two minutes into the overtime period. But the Warriors still had enough juice to win the five-minute nail-biter.
Behind Buddy Hield (27 points and six 3-pointers) — who has led the Warriors in scoring in five of six games — and clutch play from Podziemski and Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State escaped with a 127-121 win. The bench tallied 71 points and the Warriors, despite getting run off the arc in the second half, hit 15 of their 31 3-pointers.
Even though Golden State’s defense bled buckets in the second half, it bottled up Jalen Green, who entered the night averaging 27.6 points per game, and Fred VanVleet. The Houston starting backcourt finished 4-for-25 for 18 combined points.
With a third straight victory, the Warriors have already won as many games without Steph Curry as they did last season.
Moses Moody sank a pair of 3s, one from each corner, to key a 13-4, game-opening run.Andrew Wiggins, in his first game back after missing the previous two, kept piling on — first with his second 3 of the game and then by hitting Draymond Green with a cross-court advance pass for a bucket.
By the time Rockets head coach Ime Udoka called his second timeout, the Warriors had built a 28-11 lead in eight minutes. Green stopped by midcourt and flexed both arms, screaming with satisfaction toward the visitor’s bench. They hit eight of their first 10 3-pointers, including three straight from Hield off the bench.
The Warriors intend to make defense their identity this season, and it showed in the first quarter when they held Houston to 20 points on 33% shooting. Marry that with blazing-hot shooting and lightning-fast tempo? You get an 18-point lead after 12 minutes.
It wasn’t enough to bury Houston — very few first-quarter leads are — but the Warriors didn’t stop there.
Hield sank another 3 and sprinted down the court for a fast-break layup. Kuminga provided a jolt off the bench with 10 points in his first eight minutes. Golden State often trapped Jalen Green off pick-and-rolls and threw multiple looks at Sengun on the block.
To expand their lead to 59-31, the Warriors went on an 8-0 run. Kuminga drilled a pull-up 3 after getting work done in the post. Then the fourth-year wing found Gary Payton II in the corner for a transition 3. It was the Warriors’ 11th made 3 in 16 tries.
Shooting both 60% from the field and 3, the Warriors held that 28-point lead steady into halftime.
They controlled the tempo of the game, just as they did against New Orleans (twice), Utah and Portland. But those teams were either depleted with injuries or significantly at a talent deficit. The Rockets entered the game off a victory over the Mavericks and boast one of the deepest rosters in the league. They’re well-coached, hard-nosed and can win in multiple ways.
They were a big test. And in the second half, they showed as much.
Suddenly, the Rockets stormed back. They hit a bundle of their own 3s in the third quarter to inch within 16. Then a 16-1 blitz to start the fourth quarter had the Warriors reeling.
Everything was working for the Warriors in the first half. Then, nothing was. It resembled so many of Golden State’s lowlights from last season.
Five minutes into the final period, Eason put back his own miss to knot the score at 98. At that point, the Warriors had missed 15 foul shots. It often looked like the Warriors couldn’t even bring the ball over half court against Houston’s ball pressure.
But Hield sank his sixth 3 and Podziemski added a pair of tough buckets inside to reclaim the lead. With two minutes left, Golden State clung to a four-point lead.
A minute later, Podziemski nailed a fading 15-footer to give the Warriors a six-point cushion. He flexed both arms as Udoka called a timeout.
It wasn’t over then, just like it wasn’t at halftime. Jabari Smith Jr. nailed a deep 3 to bring the Rockets within two, then Draymond Green threw away an inbounds pass with 15 seconds left. At the line, Eason tied the game with two free throws, sending the game into overtime.
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But Kuminga took over in overtime. He got a quick turnaround on the post to go, then finished again in transition. Out of a timeout, the Warriors cleared a side for him, and he beat his man off the dribble for a left-handed finish. Kuminga, the closer, scored six of his 23 points in overtime.
It wasn’t as convincing as it could have been. But even without Curry and De’Anthony Melton (back strain), the Warriors proved that their abundance of capable players can handle a playoff-caliber team. Whether it can hang with the league’s best will be determined later this road trip in Boston, Cleveland and Oklahoma City.