Watch: NBA Warriors snap 9-game Houston win streak, avoid sweep
Playing without injured Kevin Durant, the Golden State Warriors snapped Houston's nine-game win streak and avoided being swept this season by the Rockets with a 106-104 road victory Wednesday.
Klay Thompson scored a game-high 30 points while DeMarcus Cousins netted a season-high 27 points plus team-highs of eight rebounds and seven assists and Stephen Curry contributed 24 points in a crucial victory for the defending champions.
Durant, a two-time NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, was sidelined by a right ankle sprain suffered in a Sunday loss to Phoenix.
But the Warriors, a Western Conference-best 46-21, bounced back behind 3-point sharpshooter Thompson, who hit 12-of-23 from the floor including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.
Cousins, signed as an injured free agent in July, has had to blend with the Warriors powerhouse lineup since returning in January from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
But Cousins established himself as a physical inside force who could give Houston fits in a playoff series.
Houston, which led Golden State 3-2 in last year's Western Conference finals before falling in seven games, had won the first three meetings of the season with Golden State but could not...