23 3-pointers made.
That pretty much sums up what the Houston Rockets did to the Golden State Warriors in the Toyota Center on Tuesday night, when they tied an all-time 3-pointers-made record – held by the 2008-2009 Orlando Magic team. The Rockets also tied a league record with 14 3-pointers made in the first half.
Needless to say, things got rather frustrating for the Warriors. They came into the game leading the league in 3-point field goal percentage, but had a rare off night from long distance – shooting three-of-15 overall.
Sharp shooter Stephen Curry – who was irritatingly referred to as “Stephon Curry” by Rockets announcer Bill Worrell (how hard is it to learn how to properly say an All-Star caliber player’s name in his fourth season?) – was kept in check with 7 points on 3-of-12 shooting, including just one-of-five from the 3-point line. His only make was ironically the most difficult one of the season – a half court heave at the end of the second quarter.
The result was an embarrassing 140-109 loss for the Warriors, their most lopsided defeat of the season.
Interestingly, though, things heated up down the stretch when the game was well in hand for the Rockets, with all the starters already on the bench. With the crowd wanting to see their team break the all-time 3-pointers made record – understandably so – backup point guard Patrick Beverly tried to launch another one. Fran Blinebury of NBA.com has details on what went down from there:
Which then resulted in the final three minutes more closely resembling recess at an elementary school. The Rockets kept running their offense and shooting 3s. Houston reserve Patrick Beverley hammered home a dunk, then taunted the Warrior bench and drew a technical foul.
Golden State’s Draymond Green was flagged for a Flagrant Foul 2 and ejected when Beverley tried to let fly with a corner jumper in front of the Warriors’ bench and Houston’s Marcus Morris was hit with a technical and tossed out on the same play.
In the final two minutes, the Warriors would not let the Rockets even attempt a 3 in order to break the record. Warriors coach Mark Jackson ordered his players to foul the Rockets intentionally on each possession.
After the game, some of the players took to twitter to share some brief thoughts on what went down, but Chandler Parsons took the cake for his shot at the Warriors with a quote that was once quite often used by Mark Jackson when he was an analyst.
Quite interesting, looking forward to coming back again.