Red-hot third quarter pushes Warriors halfway to fourth straight NBA Finals

That moment. It comes out of nowhere.

While fans were still putting mustard on hot dogs coming out of halftime Sunday evening at Oracle Arena, the Golden State Warriors were busy dropping the hammer on the Houston Rockets.

Almost every team in the league has faced an offensive run by the Warriors. Once it starts, it’s one of the more difficult things to stop in the NBA.

Golden State took a modest 54-43 lead into halftime and then unleashed the fury on Houston coming out of he break. The Warriors hit the visitors with a 10-0 run to start the third and ran away from the Rockets for a 126-85 win.

Stephen Curry shook off early game shooting struggled to hit the Rockets with 18 points in the third. Curry hit all seven of his shots in the period, including a pair of 3-pointers and four free throws.

“Steph definitely got it going,” Draymond Green said following the win. “I think it was very important for him to get to the basket. Once he started getting to the basket, then all of the sudden the threes opened up and they started to fall."

With the Rockets chasing the two-time league MVP around the court, Kevin Durant added 10 of his 25 points in the quarter 4-of-6 shooting. Once the pair got hot, there was nothing the Rockets could do but try to limit the damage.

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“We played soft, actually,” Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni said. “You can’t do that with these guys, these guys are good."

Houston tried to respond, cutting the Warriors lead to 21 heading to the fourth quarter, but the rout was on. Golden State outscored the Rockets 38-18 in the fourth to give them their largest margin of victory in team playoff history.

“The second half, we came out too slow, too slow, too soft,” James Harden said. “Offensively, we didn’t have any thrust and they exploited it."

Curry knocked down a pair of triples in the fourth to finish the evening with 35 points. After a rough couple of shooting games in the playoffs, the All-Star guard appeared to find his mojo.

“I have the highest expectations for myself and you just got to find whatever it is to get you going,” Curry said. “Obviously, it felt good and you want to use that energy to show your teammates that you’re here, that you’re with them and get the crowd into it. But it’s just one game and you have to have that same type of energy and intensions and focus next game."

All five Warriors starters scored in double figures as they took a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals. 

The two teams return to Oracle on Tuesday where Golden State will try to hold home-court advantage and move one step closer to a fourth straight NBA Finals.